The first teacher who pops into mind is Mr. Greisinger. It’s not because he was a good teacher in any traditional sense, but rather because he put the fear of God into me, and thus I learned.
He was ferocious: angry and violent. He didn’t like the boys in class. He favored me, fortunately, though that didn’t spare me from his wrath. When he got mad at someone, he would throw them up against the blackboard. He threw Teddy Harrington into the trashcan, and Teddy couldn’t get out at first.
I would do anything to avoid such treatment, so I paid attention. He taught English. I believe I owe to him my capability for writing.
He was exacting, a perfectionist. So am I. He really knew English and I guess he really knew how to communicate it. I don’t remember anything about what or how he taught. I remember only one assignment: a creative writing paper that was a short story about the subject of our choice. I wrote about a person who fell into a lion trap and got pierced by the sharp wooden sticks at the bottom, I think.
I also remember he caught Maria and me cheating on a test. Actually, I let Maria look on to my work, but we both got in trouble.
Characteristics of a Good Teacher
Here are some traits that emerged from our class discussion of what constituted a successful teacher:
- Sincere, authentic
- Genuine care for student
- Compassionate
- High expectations
- Expertise in the subject
- Innovative; willing to deviate from textbook
- Aware of students’ individual capabilities and differences, and willing to adapt curriculum accordingly
- Physically strong, confident, commanding presence
- Relaxed and easy-going approach
And here are a few things Bev said in class: “We tend to teach to our own learning style.” So if I’m a visual learner, I might lean that way as an instructor. Important to diversify. First, I should identify what my learning style really IS.
Also, “We teach the way we were taught.” For the 130 or so hours we spend learning to be a teacher, we’ve spent 13,000 as a student, which is really where we’ve learned; it’s our “apprenticeship” and a key wellspring for what we do in our own classrooms.
She also said that our desire to teach is fueled in part by the negative experiences we want to turn around.
How Bev Taught
She began by going in a circle and having us each tell our name and where we’d been most recently. She used “active listening” techniques, paraphrasing what we said and adding something new — an observation or other positive comment — to it before moving on to the next person. The she moved to the syllabus, a step I appreciate. And next: establishment of norms in the usual way (we gather in small groups, come up with ideas, present them and she writes them on the board, and everyone agrees or not). With each suggestion she gave affirmation of the student’s contribution by paraphrasing what they said, and cleverly inserting any additional info that may have been implicit.
“In teaching you need more than intuition,” she said. “You need grounding in theory.”