A Patchwork Life

What Makes A Great Teacher, Part Four

08 Mar 2010 3 Comments

by Jackie in 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 popped up, with more books I want to buy and fancy demonstration videos to boot.

At first, I didn’t know that there’s a lot said here that wasn’t said in the Atlantic article: it’s very tricky to know how to make good teachers, hiring Ivy Leaguers or giving them merit pay hasn’t necessarily worked, the impact of teachers on a classroom can be massive, etc. But I also liked the tone of the article, which was not accusatory, but instead acknowledged that many teachers want to be better (myself included), but in the early years, we often are just as mystified as to how to accomplish that improvement as scholars and journalists are. Like the article says, why buy a better teacher, when it might be possible to build a better one instead? They acknowledged that increased opportunities for women and minorities resulted in them leaving teaching, to some degree, for “better” jobs, which hasn’t helped the profession either. A recent survey of teachers in my state backed up the theory that new teachers need a lot more mentorship and guidance in the first few years. The teachers over on the EC Ning seem a little nervous about why all the sudden attention to measuring teachers and what that might mean in an era of massive governmental budget cuts. There’s some great stuff in the comments over at Crooked Timber too.

I love the idea of a 49-step taxonomy of “bite-size” techniques to make teachers more effective, regardless of subject matter. In shifting from college teaching to high school, that is one major difference that has changed how I think about my work: subject-matter knowledge is much more integral in college-level work, which expects a level of scholarship, while high-school level teaching requires more attention to classroom management, effective pedagogy, and emotional connection (in addition to subject-matter knowledge). I loved the story of Lemov, the introvert who transforms in front of a classroom, mostly because I, a life-long introvert, hope that transformation happens in my room too. I think the idea that a good teacher needs to be a stand-up comedian or a talented thespian is one of the ideas that keeps people out of the classroom unnecessarily. I know I will definitely be buying Teach Like a Champion, Lemov’s book about his taxonomy, when it comes out, and maybe even in hardcover, and I’ll probably read it this summer, when I always spend hours and hours thinking about how to do my job better.

Maybe it’s naïve of me, but I would love to think that we are finally going to try seriously to make teaching a seriously respected and valued profession in this country. All apologies to the doctors, nurses, priests and others out there, but I don’t know of a more important paying job for our world’s future.