Comments on: What Makes a Great Teacher (Part Two)

By: What Makes A Great Teacher, Part Four « A Patchwork Life: writing, teaching, learning more each day

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:15:40 +0000

[...] · Filed under conversations, education, teaching I thought this series (which I did in one, two, three parts already) was over, but then another long-form article on how to make great teachers [...]

By: Lone Star Ma

Lone Star Ma — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:49:31 +0000

Thanks, but I’m not sure I’m not where I want to be either. The kids have to be there after all. I want to be there for them. I just want things to be different for everyone. I could never leave them to go to an “easy” school.

By: jackie

jackie — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:51:41 +0000

Also, I’m sorry to hear you aren’t where you want to be. I hope you find a happier medium sometime down the road.

By: jackie

jackie — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:51:05 +0000

LSM, I think school environment and culture does play a major role in teacher satisfaction and excellence. My mother taught high school and her partner taught 5th grade for decades, and while he was a beloved and revered teacher at his school, she felt the same as you: that his was also somewhat of an easier place to be. I remember when Christmas would roll around and he would get showered with gifts, and she would say, “That’s what it’s like teaching at the country club!”

I think I’m a pretty good teacher, for being as new to it as I am, but what it takes to be good at my school is an entirely different set of challenges than what it would take at a public school in my city, or even at an all-boys school, or a religious school, or even at my school with younger children.

By: Lone Star Ma

Lone Star Ma — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:37:04 +0000

These are interesting posts. I often wonder about these things and about how they look in different settings. My husband is a great teacher – at his school. Teacher of the Year last year and clearly thought of as the best at his school by everyone. He is an amazing teacher and is so passionate and into it – but I doubt he’d last a week at my school, even though he is truly a teacher in his soul. I am not a great teacher. My admins are always very complimentary and I think they think they really have something with me, but I feel differently. I think I am a great person to work at a school, particularly a school like mine, but although I have great mastery of my content and a passion for working with children, I know I am not really a teacher in my soul. I would be a great school social worker – that’s what i really am inside, but our district has no such positions. I think I would seem like a great teacher at an easy school like my husband’s but that still wouldn’t make me a teacher inside. Yet I know my students need me and I want to be there for them. I would take a social work job if it happened or the closest job our district has to one, but I wouldn’t want to leave the kids.

By: jackie

jackie — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 02:50:58 +0000

I know– I can’t imagine jumping in with no experience at all! I walked into my first college classroom with no experience, but I had a lot of support, and teaching college kids doesn’t carry the same challenges as teaching younger kids. Not to say there are no challenges, but it’s a very different animal, and I was only teaching one class then!

Students can definitely be good judges, so I would feel good about that compliment!

By: Lauren

Lauren — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:50:04 +0000

Education classes are tricky. When the only education experience one has is as a student, it’s difficult to see the classroom from the viewpoint of a teacher. Schools that require and provide a lot of observation hours and give student teachers the chance to assist in real classrooms are providing the best experience. I know I would not have wanted to be thrust into teaching without having done student teaching. I learned so much from that experience and from the knowledgeable cooperating teacher. I’ve recently been told my students really think I know what I’m doing. So, maybe I do!