What makes a great teacher?
By John
EDI 600 Psychological Foundation of Education
School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
January 29, 2010
Long Island University, C. W. Post
January 29, 2010
I would like to talk about what I feel makes a great teacher. I know that this is somewhat silly since I am not a teacher yet and I have no teaching experience, but I will give my thoughts!
Based on my experiences as a student and a sports counselor, I feel that teaching is such a diverse profession. I don't think that people are necessarily born as natural teachers but do believe that there are characteristics that allow some to stand out better than others. What I mean is that I feel that anyone can teach a subject or matter to a group of people if they fully understand the content they are explaining. One of my undergraduate professors always said that when you mentally master your subject or content, anyone can explain it to someone else, it just depends on how well you can perform that!
I feel that anyone can know a lot about a subject or content and express their knowledge of that to someone else but what differentiates a "good" teacher from a "bad" one, in my opinion, is how they facilitate that information to the person. Passion, energy, patience, knowledge, and a sense of humor are important in a classroom. I feel that all or some of these qualities will help a student fully understand a subject matter. I know it worked for me. I was much more attentive and absorbed more content from my teachers that were passionate and motivating rather than my teacher that just stood in class reciting definitions and articles. The interaction with the class both mentally and emotionally helps to stimulate learning patterns and helps the student relate material to his/her own experience.
I feel that this type of learning atmosphere creates the best and most efficient understanding of content. Therefore, the teacher that can follow these guidelines, in my opinion, would be considered a good teacher.
Based on my experiences as a student and a sports counselor, I feel that teaching is such a diverse profession. I don't think that people are necessarily born as natural teachers but do believe that there are characteristics that allow some to stand out better than others. What I mean is that I feel that anyone can teach a subject or matter to a group of people if they fully understand the content they are explaining. One of my undergraduate professors always said that when you mentally master your subject or content, anyone can explain it to someone else, it just depends on how well you can perform that!
I feel that anyone can know a lot about a subject or content and express their knowledge of that to someone else but what differentiates a "good" teacher from a "bad" one, in my opinion, is how they facilitate that information to the person. Passion, energy, patience, knowledge, and a sense of humor are important in a classroom. I feel that all or some of these qualities will help a student fully understand a subject matter. I know it worked for me. I was much more attentive and absorbed more content from my teachers that were passionate and motivating rather than my teacher that just stood in class reciting definitions and articles. The interaction with the class both mentally and emotionally helps to stimulate learning patterns and helps the student relate material to his/her own experience.
I feel that this type of learning atmosphere creates the best and most efficient understanding of content. Therefore, the teacher that can follow these guidelines, in my opinion, would be considered a good teacher.
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