This week I would like to start the discussion about teaching and influential teachers you've met/known - at school or elsewhere. Teaching is not easy but it is necessary for our development. Everybody has had some teachers. What are your personal experiences? What sort of influence did the teachers have over you? Did they manage to change your plans for the future/ improve your life? What was their style of teaching? What did they do right/wrong ? Do you know any teachers you would love to have for your kids? If you are a teacher what are your objectives? Do you know a good method of imparting knowledge? What are your major problems?
Apart from usual quotes, posted below, you can also consult a list of 12 incredibly inspiring American teachers which was sent to me by Tina Sans (thanks a lot for contacting me!) - enjoy!
Now some food for thought:
Image via WikipediaGood teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater. ~Gail Godwin
A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron. ~Horace Mann
The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence. He inspires self-distrust. He guides their eyes from himself to the spirit that quickens him. He will have no disciple. ~Amos Bronson Alcott
A good teacher is a master of simplification and an enemy of simplism. ~Louis A. Berman
We expect teachers to handle teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, and the failings of the family. Then we expect them to educate our children. ~John Sculley
Good teachers are costly, but bad teachers cost more. ~Bob Talbert
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. ~William Arthur Ward
Image via Wikipedia
Something to think about :)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! I never met a truly charismatic teacher - I wish I did!
ReplyDeleteI had a great geometry teacher. He even got the award for best math teacher at Disney! I've had some good teachers, and some awful ones too. Great quotes.
ReplyDeleteLike most people, I had some very good teachers, and also some very insipid ones. At my Secondary School the best teachers were generally in the science department (or maybe I was biased, but I don't think so). The worst teachers were the ones with no sense of humour.
ReplyDeleteI think I have to agree with Scully above. It can't be easy to teach high school.
ReplyDeleteI had some good teachers but I think at the time I went to high school I was unwilling to learn. I am grateful that so many cared if I finished school or not.
Teaching in High School definitely isn't easy. I have a friend who teaches science - the number of hours she sometimes ends up working! Though she works at a private, selective school, so you have kids who are very bright and want to learn, no surly teens with attitude problems (or not nearly as many as in comprehensive schools) but the added pressure that their parents are paying a lot of money for that education - helicopter parents, indeed!
ReplyDeleteBut at normal schools you have a fairly high percentage of kids who just don't want to be there, can't see the point of education, and a lot of teacher energy is spent on trying to do the equivalent of herding cats (big cats that are quite capable of biting a chunk out of you if you're not careful) I blame the parents :)
And then there's peer pressure, which is huge.
I used to be a teacher in a private language school. Sometimes I had a feeling that rich parents think a teacher is like a wizard or a fairy godmother, it's only the question of them spending the right amount of money. Most kids did want to learn but there were some who attended just to create havoc and problems and have fun because they could. Definitely herding cats is the right similitude.
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