Wow! What a question. I think this question could be answered a number of different ways. Obviously we all want to be good teachers. I thought I was a pretty good teacher before I came to NTI. I have seen and learned so much since I started it made me rethink whether I was a good teacher or not. Teaching with what you have at the point you teach is the best you can do at that point. So, never stop learning different ways and different methods would make me a good teacher. Never stop careing about the student and never think you have learned it all. I think in
order to be a good teacher in all the different trades that we teach, we must be able to relate to the students in a way they can learn. It is not just how much we have in our head or how well we did in our industry, but how we can relate all of that to the student and make them want more. I think back to all of the classes I have been in and the teacher was not relating to me and the other students. Hopefully we are all life long learners and our students will think we are all great teachers.(One day!)
I love your post! I agree that a commitment to learning as an instructor is a great attribute to good teaching. I also believe that students of all ages learn best when there is a connection to the instructor. I never read the post before I post my answer to the questions each week, but our posts are so similar it looks like I cheated...:)! I saw a parent on Friday night of a student that is no longer at my school. She was thanking me for the time and experience that her student had in my class during the first semester. She said she had never seen a teacher make such a substantial impact on her daughter in such a short period of time. I thought to myself...wow! Her student would stay after school nearly everyday to get clarification on various assignments and sometimes to just chat. We ARE going to one day be great teachers with a number of students and parents reminding us of our mission!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
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