Daily Prompt – #1985 – Great Teachers
What makes a teacher great? One of the most important characteristics is to make learning fun. If teaching is presented as drudgery, student minds may simply clam up.
An expert in the classroom piques curiosity about the world. A wonderful teacher embodies themselves as a learner, since we as humans must never stop learning! An amazing educator is much like a gardener.
The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.
C.S. Lewis
A clever classroom leader can show creativity in unique ways. I once had a teacher who had all sorts of unusually used verbs up his sleeve. One example was when we were directed to “push our papers to the front of our row”! Just imagine our fun and giggles we had in acting this out by doing what could have been a quite mundane task!
Expert Educators Do This
To be great, an educator recognizes and nurtures the inherent talents and intelligence within each and every child. Each student comes with a certain amount of innate intelligence. In the classroom, an expert teacher should take each learner from where they are and assist them on the journey of learning to the furthest point possible. Some students need subjects simplified and some need them broadened, while others may need more complexity.
A superb leader of students always has plans, but plans for the unexpected. Students may need to go another direction in the learning path to mastery than what the initial plans were. A great teacher will see this and go with the flow.
Sometimes a student may teach the teacher something. A smart schoolteacher will be appreciative and grateful. The student will be beaming with pride that they taught the teacher!
Teaching: Paths to Great Learning!
A great teacher is constantly learning. Life, after all, is all about learning! In fact, there are many ways to be intelligent, just ask Howard Gardner! See Hammers Don’t Belong in Education. Resilience is a trait that serves teachers and learners alike as in Michelangelo – Reach and Look Up!. The visual arts lend themselves quite well toward a life well lived as in EMPOWERED LIVING. Here are some quotes on great teachers: https://www.countryliving.com/life/inspirational-stories/g33930560/teacher-quotes/.
These viewpoints were based upon my own observations as a student as well as a teacher of visual art and also talented and gifted classes. Interestingly, my thirty year career started in 1985, the very number of this writing prompt! Keep on learning!
Sooo True!The Multicat/Special Ed classes I took couple decades ago Were Sooo helpful in SEEING Each Child.Those classes woul benefit every educator& make teacher&student thrive.Thanks for Your teaching/writing.
I’m glad you got to experience those classes. As you say, it is so important for each child to feel seen. Thanks, I do thoroughly enjoy writing!