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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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 Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 6:16 pm Post subject: What Makes a Good Teacher? |
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ask the British...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7209096.stm
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Sometimes the simplest questions in life are the hardest to answer.
For all of the millions of pounds invested in researching school effectiveness, and the thousands of hours spent by policy-makers reforming education systems, do we yet have a unanimous answer to this most important of questions: "what makes a good teacher?"
The short answer is "no".
But this week saw a significant move towards an evidence-based view that might yet influence the politicians.
At the invitation of the Cambridge Assessment agency, a group of experts gathered at Westminster to pool their research knowledge and grapple towards a definition of a "good teacher".
The timing was excellent since the House of Commons Schools and Families select committee is about to start an inquiry into teacher training.
And it was encouraging that its chairman, Barry Sheerman, who chaired this seminar, said his committee preferred to be informed by evidence based on thorough research rather than on opinion.
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Professor Patricia Broadfoot, a former Professor of Education and now vice-chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire, argued persuasively that the evidence from international studies showed that "the highest quality teaching and learning comes when we have the greatest autonomy for the teacher and the learner".
The good teacher, she went on, was someone who was "left to get on with what they think their students need".
This certainly sounded like a rejection of the prescriptive approach of the national curriculum and the numeracy and literacy strategies. Professor Broadfoot went on to propose a much more child-centred approach.
While insisting she was not advocating a "soft and fluffy" style of teaching, she argued that research showed that a good teacher had to engage with "the powerfully charged emotional relationship between teacher and pupil". |
more in the article... |
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Vairocana
Joined: 10 Jan 2008
Posts: 45
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:01 pm Post subject: I always believed... |
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A good teacher elevates the student's thinking to the highest level possible. But an excellent teacher helps a student raise to a level where that student is able to acquire knowledge by him/herself.  |
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lozwich
Joined: 25 May 2003
Posts: 1536
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:27 pm Post subject: Re: I always believed... |
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| Vairocana wrote: |
| But an excellent teacher helps a student raise to a level where that student is able to acquire knowledge by him/herself. |
Totally agree with that. Something I'm grappling with at the moment is some students who don't want to learn autonomy skills and just want me to tell them everything. I'm finding it really hard to convince them that what they see as me not helping them is actually going to be good for them in the long run. |
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johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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| Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 9:52 pm Post subject: |
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I've always liked these quotes:
"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."
�The test of a good teacher is not how many questions he can ask his pupils that they will answer readily, but how many questions he inspires them to ask him which he finds it hard to answer�
�The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.�
and patience, empathy, enthusiasm, a sense of humor, the ability to communicate and a thorough knowledge of the subject area.
Regards,
John |
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arioch36
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 3589
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 4:37 am Post subject: |
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Words I cringe at, and part of the reason I never returned to my ed psych program
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| Professor Broadfoot went on to propose a much more child-centred approach. |
I feel like I'm listening to the Clintons.
Can anyone tell me what they feel this means?
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| The good teacher, she went on, was someone who was "left to get on with what they think their students need". |
Wonderful sentence in theory. Reality? Well in China it's a reality. Most public schools never interfere with the laowai classes. They can do what they want. Which means terrible teachers are treated the same as great teachers or mediocre teachers. How to determin the good teachers? Based on student popularity votes? Please be specific
In the States, at least, this is gobble speech. The administrative elite, most of whom were not experienced teachers, decide what should be taught, and how. This approach has pros and cons.
A hidden succcess of President Bush is the education reforms, which in some ways have taken control away from the teacher. Schools face more rigourous testing and accountability. Some would complain this amounts to forcing teachers to teach tot he test. But it has shown which schools and teachers underperform, and has forced these schools to get better or lose money.
lozwich
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Vairocana wrote:
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| But an excellent teacher helps a student raise to a level where that student is able to acquire knowledge by him/herself |
.
Totally agree with that. Something I'm grappling with at the moment is some students who don't want to learn autonomy skills and just want me to tell them everything. I'm finding it really hard to convince them that what they see as me not helping them is actually going to be good for them in the long run. |
Ah, a dose of reality. I think the wonderful words of Slat and others sound nice, and are the ideal to shoot for in the delusional teacher (i am one). But the reality of our profession, just like any other profession, must be faced. Many students have no interest in going to a higher level. Nor do they want us to help them become more as a person. I would definitely suggest that our schools do not pay us to be the following
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Vairocana wrote:
But an excellent teacher helps a student raise to a level where that student is able to acquire knowledge by him/herself. |
This is not what the parents, schools and teachers, or even society want from us. Rather it is a hidden reward of teaching when we can occassionally help a student expand the horizons of their thinking.
No, a good teacher is one who gets the job done that the schools and parents want done. 
As a sad note, I feel there is a lot of hypocrisy in a British Professor saying such lofty words in England. I feel betrayed by the British University system, which for the sake of lucre has abandoned its formerly high principles of academia. This is a country that has separate "dumbed down" classes for foreign students unable to take the regular uni classes, as long as these foreign students pay the cash, these British unis will find a way to graduate them, and these foreign students will have a diploma that is identical to the students who went through the "real" courses of the "real" professors. But maybe this is what Professor Broadfoot means by "student centered" give them what they want regardless of the educational worthwhileness?
Okay, I'm taking a deep breath. Gotta get it out of my system.
On the lighter note, wasn't Broadfoot one of the hobbits at Bilbo Baggins retirement party???
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arioch36
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 3589
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 4:48 am Post subject: |
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| Oh, a PS to my long diatribe. I find a more realistic goal is to help my students have self-confidence |
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Vairocana
Joined: 10 Jan 2008
Posts: 45
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 7:37 am Post subject: The impossible is always so once we think it! |
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Thanks for the compliment lozwich, and what you speak of is one of the greatest challenges a teacher faces.
And arioch36 don't apologize, you made a lot of good points. You are right any modern society can be arguably said not to really want people to think too much, that makes them harder to control/deceive. But with that said, let me rephrase my original statement again.
A good teacher elevates the student's thinking to the highest level possible.
A great teacher helps a student raise to a level where that student is able to acquire knowledge by him/herself.
A glorious teacher assists a student in transcending the limitations of human knowledge to arrive at the greatest wisdom of all.... Self Mastery!
I'll give you one more this one from Gandhi: You have to be the change you want to see in the world!
Last edited by Vairocana on Mon Jan 28, 2008 8:19 am; edited 3 times in total |
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The_Hanged_Man
Joined: 10 Oct 2004
Posts: 224
Location: Tbilisi, Georgia
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 7:47 am Post subject: |
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My entry:
A good teacher realizes that there is no such thing as a 'good' teacher. A good teacher constantly reflects and takes action to become a better teacher.
Honestly, how many teachers have you met that admitted to actually being a bad teacher? I have been teaching for around 10 years now, and have met next to no one who would admit that. Practically everyone thinks that they are a good teacher. 'Good' is a very relative and subjective term that changes depending on the context. The one thing I have noticed about truly excellent teachers was that 'good' was never good enough.
Edit: Fixed grammar.
Last edited by The_Hanged_Man on Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:36 am; edited 2 times in total |
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denise
Joined: 23 Apr 2003
Posts: 3419
Location: finally home-ish
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 8:02 am Post subject: |
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I agree with the hanged man.
d |
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propertee
Joined: 07 Jan 2008
Posts: 88
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:15 am Post subject: |
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| arioch36 wrote: |
| Oh, a PS to my long diatribe. I find a more realistic goal is to help my students have self-confidence |
Because TEACHING isn't part of your repertoire? |
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Serious_Fun
Joined: 28 Jun 2005
Posts: 1171
Location: terra incognita
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 12:32 pm Post subject: |
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Otterman Ollie
Joined: 23 Feb 2004
Posts: 1067
Location: South Western Turkey
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 12:47 pm Post subject: |
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I do so enjoy bringing these rosetinted little chats down. Most of what you lot go on about is well,let me put it delicately,its bollox really. We all know what we THİNK makes a good teacher,and we tell ourselves thats what we aspire to be someday. Then reality kicks in hard ! As far as the average employer is concerned none of the things we hold dear interest them. Its all about bums on seats and how much money they make. If you get in the way of that mindset ,it doesn't really matter how good you think you are, at the end of the day you are expendable, a commodity to be used, abused and then put out to pasture. Call me cyncial but that is the way it goes and the bits of paper or experience you have are just a passport to get the job in the first place. Hanging on to it takes a lot more cunning and dirty dealing behind closed doors than you can imagine. Most of the petty tyrants who hold sway over managemeny or who dictate who goes where or does what have very little idea what happens in the classroom. so what is a good teacher?
Someone who knows when to keep his /her mouth shut and when to open wide. |
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jwbhomer
Joined: 14 Dec 2003
Posts: 876
Location: CANADA
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 1:01 pm Post subject: |
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IMHO the two absolute requirements are mastery of your subject and the ability to communicate on the level most suitable to the pupils.
I have known many experts in their fields who couldn't impart knowledge to others to save their souls. I have also know fantastic entertainers who think they are top teachers because their students love them. Unfortunately they are examples of the adage "a little learning is a dangerous thing". We seem to have a number of them here, posing as EFL teachers. |
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gaijinalways
Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 1:16 pm Post subject: |
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Good teachers always mix in a little new with a little old.
Great teachers are always trying to find some way to improve an activitiy or adjust it to fit that class best.
Realistic teachers realize that at the end of the day, putting in 100% is enough and we have to try to teach good lesson on the good days and the bad days alike. |
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soapdodger
Joined: 19 Apr 2007
Posts: 203
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 2:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Good teachers get fired. |
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