How to be a great teacher? An uneasy task
By Meredith Appelbaum
EDI 600 Psychological Foundation of Education
School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
September 15, 2008
By Meredith Appelbaum
EDI 600 Psychological Foundation of Education
School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
September 15, 2008
Being a great teacher relies on a variety of factors. First, above all, a teacher needs to be passionate not only about what material they are teaching, but about the outcome of her students. It is so important to be emotionally invested in your class. Without the teacher having that passion, emotion, and creativity, how can one expect a student to become interested in the material at hand.
A teacher has to make it exciting and engage her students, adding their own personality and humor to everyday. No one is going to want or be able to fully learn from someone who is lacking feeling or personal interest about the subject matter. A teacher must motivate her class and create a positive environment in which to learn.
Being flexible is an important trait as an educator, teaching is not full of clear cut answers. Everyone learns differently and at a different pace, what works for some students may not be the case for others. A great teacher has to be able to capture the attention of all her students. You have to be able to to choose from a variety of different techniques to create a lesson plan that with be effective and apply to all the student's needs and interests. It means being able to communicate emotions and interest through yourself, either with voice or body animation and the use of the classroom space. It is essential to be able to improvise in a classroom. If you are left at a standstill with a lesson plan, one needs to be able to be flexible and improvise, expert teachers will actually plan improvisation into their lessons by creating general mental plans and wait to see how students will react. Teachers need to be able to judge a situation and think on their feet, which is no easy task. Teachers must find these qualities within themselves, because these are not tangible qualities, they can be difficult to learn and then teach.
Good teaching really is partly an art and partly a science. Teaching is as much about one's own beliefs, values, and emotions as it is of one's formal knowledge. However, it is incredibly important to have formal training and knowledge when it comes to scientific methods of teaching. Obviously teachers who have professional training are going to be more competent and effective. They are the teachers who emphasize intergrating theories and pratice them on an everyday basis. Well trained teachers know how to manage in a classroom setting, develop and create lesson plans that directly address any state standards, they can motivate their students, and productively use technology to better their students.
"Educational psychology is a scientific discipline that seeks to understand and improve how students learn from instruction in a classroom setting." (Snowman) It is very important to have a scientific study of education, focusing on human behavior, student observations and research. Engaging students in a task through the use of questions, homework assignments and projects, providing corrective feedback and reinforement with written and verbal comments and of course praise are key to scientific teaching.
Teaching well or teaching poorly is subjective of course, however there are certain elements in which every teacher much follow through with. Because teaching is so complex and every student learns differently, it can be an overwhelming feeling and task to able to teach every single student as effectively as the next. Teaching can not be a profession that one enters into lightly, it effects every person that walks through that door into your classroom. It is not a job that can be done with minimal effort, it has to be a passion, it has to be something that excites you from the within. You have to be able to make a connection with each student. A great teacher needs to be able to do those things. A bad teacher is unable to motivate and engage their classroom, unable to reach out to each student and excite them. If you do not know that catering to each individual is key than there is no way to teach successfully.
Reflective teaching is a great way to help yourself grow as a teacher. It is a way to think about what you do and why. "Reflective teachers are constantly engaged in thoughtful observation and analysis of their actions in the classroom before, during, and after interactions with their students." ( Snowman) It is so important to be able to to reflect on what it is you are teaching and the process in which you are doing it. It is important to think about the different types of knowledge and skills students need to learn, the atmosphere in which is most condusive to learning, and the teaching techniques that provide the best kinds of assesment and results. One must be introspective and open minded and be willing to take responsibility for their own decisions and actions. Teachers need to look forward or backward to really determine if the methods they choose are the best for the situation at hand.
A teacher has to make it exciting and engage her students, adding their own personality and humor to everyday. No one is going to want or be able to fully learn from someone who is lacking feeling or personal interest about the subject matter. A teacher must motivate her class and create a positive environment in which to learn.
Being flexible is an important trait as an educator, teaching is not full of clear cut answers. Everyone learns differently and at a different pace, what works for some students may not be the case for others. A great teacher has to be able to capture the attention of all her students. You have to be able to to choose from a variety of different techniques to create a lesson plan that with be effective and apply to all the student's needs and interests. It means being able to communicate emotions and interest through yourself, either with voice or body animation and the use of the classroom space. It is essential to be able to improvise in a classroom. If you are left at a standstill with a lesson plan, one needs to be able to be flexible and improvise, expert teachers will actually plan improvisation into their lessons by creating general mental plans and wait to see how students will react. Teachers need to be able to judge a situation and think on their feet, which is no easy task. Teachers must find these qualities within themselves, because these are not tangible qualities, they can be difficult to learn and then teach.
Good teaching really is partly an art and partly a science. Teaching is as much about one's own beliefs, values, and emotions as it is of one's formal knowledge. However, it is incredibly important to have formal training and knowledge when it comes to scientific methods of teaching. Obviously teachers who have professional training are going to be more competent and effective. They are the teachers who emphasize intergrating theories and pratice them on an everyday basis. Well trained teachers know how to manage in a classroom setting, develop and create lesson plans that directly address any state standards, they can motivate their students, and productively use technology to better their students.
"Educational psychology is a scientific discipline that seeks to understand and improve how students learn from instruction in a classroom setting." (Snowman) It is very important to have a scientific study of education, focusing on human behavior, student observations and research. Engaging students in a task through the use of questions, homework assignments and projects, providing corrective feedback and reinforement with written and verbal comments and of course praise are key to scientific teaching.
Teaching well or teaching poorly is subjective of course, however there are certain elements in which every teacher much follow through with. Because teaching is so complex and every student learns differently, it can be an overwhelming feeling and task to able to teach every single student as effectively as the next. Teaching can not be a profession that one enters into lightly, it effects every person that walks through that door into your classroom. It is not a job that can be done with minimal effort, it has to be a passion, it has to be something that excites you from the within. You have to be able to make a connection with each student. A great teacher needs to be able to do those things. A bad teacher is unable to motivate and engage their classroom, unable to reach out to each student and excite them. If you do not know that catering to each individual is key than there is no way to teach successfully.
Reflective teaching is a great way to help yourself grow as a teacher. It is a way to think about what you do and why. "Reflective teachers are constantly engaged in thoughtful observation and analysis of their actions in the classroom before, during, and after interactions with their students." ( Snowman) It is so important to be able to to reflect on what it is you are teaching and the process in which you are doing it. It is important to think about the different types of knowledge and skills students need to learn, the atmosphere in which is most condusive to learning, and the teaching techniques that provide the best kinds of assesment and results. One must be introspective and open minded and be willing to take responsibility for their own decisions and actions. Teachers need to look forward or backward to really determine if the methods they choose are the best for the situation at hand.
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