What makes a Good Teacher?
Beidler in Inspiring Teaching, Carnegie Professors of the Year Speak, John K. Roth General Editor. Anker Publishing Company, Inc., Bolton, MA. Copyright © 1997 by Anker Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved. ISBN 1-882982-13-4 Anker Publishing Company, Inc. 176 Ballville Road P.O. Box 249 Bolton, MA 1-882982-14-2. [www.ankerpub.com] Reprinted with permission. Regards, Rick Reis reis@stanford.edu UP NEXT: Preparing Doctoral Students for Faculty Careers That Contribute to the Public Good Tomorrow’s Teaching and Learning ——————————————– 2,013 words ————————————- WHAT MAKES A GOOD TEACHER? In this essay I want to talk about ten of the qualities that make a good teacher. My method is absolutely unscientific. Readers who want to know what exerts say about good teaching should stop reading right now and open to a different page of Inspiring Teaching. Readers who want to know what Pete has noticed about good teaching are welcome to re
At one time or another, most college and university professors who are serious about their teaching have probably asked themselves this question. The answers occasioned by this query inevitably entail descriptions of particular characteristics or traits such as “interesting,” “knowledgeable,” and “enthusiastic” and specific behaviors such as being able to “explain difficult topics clearly” and “delivering well-organized lectures.” A small empirical literature linking teacher traits and behaviors to student evaluations of good teaching has accumulated over the past two decades. For example, Murray (1975) demonstrated that individuals who are extroverted and high in anxiety control are rated by students as being better teachers than individuals who are low in these traits. McKeachie, Lin, Moffett, and Daugherty (1978) showed that teachers who the adopt roles of “Facilitator” and “Person” created more favorable attitudes toward the class from students than did teachers who adopted the rol
See also: The Elements of a Good Teacher (forum discussion) I run a website where a lot of kids hang out and talk about school and all sorts of things. Something that is a recurring theme there is how some teachers are about as creative as a stuck record when it comes to lesson planning. Many others have complained about their teachers having the manners of a rabid boar. Since this seems to be quite a problem for these young people, I have decided to ask them what they think makes a good teacher, and have compiled the results together in this guide… which will hopefully prevent teachers who read it from becoming another heated discussion on my site.
Marie F. Hassett, Ph.D. Bricolage, Inc., Jamaica Plain, MA I have been teaching for the last ten years. During that time, I have workedin public schools, universities, extracurricular programs for K-12, adult basic literacy, and adult enrichment classes. My youngest student was a 6 year-old budding actress in a town-sponsored arts enrichment program for elementary students; my oldest, a Jamaican immigrant, a grandmother beginning at the age of 63 to learn how to read. I’ve taught honors students in a college humanities program, and severely handicapped youth in a public high school. The breadth of my experience has enriched my teaching life, but left me without a luxury some of my colleagues enjoy-the sense, as I walk into a new class, for a new term, that I know what my students will need, and how best to share it with them. This is not to say that I’ve been tossed blind into the classroom. In most cases, I’ve had enough prep time to gather what seem like appropriate materials, and fi
1. Beginning the first year is full of unique experiences. All new teachers encounter difficulties and cope in different ways. In your second year, you have already established your class rules and procedures of classroom management, one of the more difficult areas new teachers have to deal with. 2. Don’t get discouraged. Each year gets easier as you go along. The more you learn, the more you will impress yourself and your school. 3. If you have had struggling issues about your work as a classroom manager, opening up to your experiences as a classroom manager by reflecting, using simple exercises can put your unique first year into perspective. 4. You come to know yourself as an educator and a teacher as you go along. By building on a first year experience, you are actually paving the way for getting to know yourself as an educator and building yor own ideologies and values.
