Mar

11

What makes a teacher a good teacher?

Filed Under The Way I See It | 9 Comments

It’s Tuesday the second day of The March Break , and I’ve been able to start catching my breath after the first five weeks of a busy, busy second semester. Little Lauryn, granddaughter #1 , is staying with us for a couple of days. I love it when she comes to stay. I learn so much from her. Yesterday while on the way to the craft store to buy some more wool to finish the sweater I’m knitting for her mom ( I didn’t have enough to finish the sleeves. Luckily I was able to get what I needed) I asked Lauryn if her grade three teacher Miss M. was a good teacher. Lauryn didn’t hesitate one second to say that yes Miss M. was a good teacher. I asked her how she knew that. She told me ” because she makes great elephant and monkey noises”. I wonder what Miss M. would say if she knew that her ability to make great elephant and monkey noises makes her a good teacher. I would say that her willingness to make those great elephant and monkey noises is what helps make her a good teacher.

Lauryn’s answer reminded me of what I’ve been reading about on that very topic- what makes a good teacher. It’s interesting how everything seems to be linked. Over at Fireside Learning: Conversations About Learning a group of us is exploring Parker Palmer’s book The Courage to Teach. The book’s a great read and so are the comments about the topic made by Connie and others providing lots of food for thought by challenging some of the commonly held assumptions, mine included, about what makes a good teacher. If you have a moment, I invite you to check the discussion thread out or even participate in the discussion. I think it would be of interest even if you haven’t read the book.

Back to Miss. M. Now, I don’t know Miss M at all. I’ve never met her, but I do know that Lauryn thinks she a good teacher. After reading the first 2 chapters of The Courage to Teach I think that Palmer would probably agree with Little Lauryn that making great elephant and monkey noises in class is one of the signs of a good teacher. Why? Because by making those great sounds she is connecting to her students through her enthusiasm for her subject . You have to be enthusiastic about your subject, and you have to be comfortable with yourself if you’re willing to make great elephant noises to help bring a poem to life for your students. Actually, I’d like to hear Miss. M. recite that poem. She’s obviously very comfortable with herself and according to Parker being comfortable with yourself is another sign of a good teacher. “Good teaching cannot be reduced to techniques; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher” he argues. Isn’t it ironic that so much of teacher PD is about teaching us new improved teaching techniques and not about helping ” us uncover what fits us and what doesn’t; who we are and who we’re not; what gives us life and what kills our spirit”- the really important things according to Parker.

I think it’s crucial to know what fits you as a teacher. I learned the hard way what fits me and what doesn’t. A few semesters ago I volunteered to teach a new program at our school that is designed to help kids who need extra support to recover credits for subjects that they almost passed. Instead of just failing the student, the credit would be deferred until the student did or redid whatever part of the course was the problem. The Credit Recovery Program was created to help those kids who are at risk of dropping out of school because they haven’t earned 16 credits by the time they are sixteen. Studies have shown that kids who do not have 16 credits by the time they are sixteen tend to drop out of school and not graduate.

Now I was so excited about teaching Credit Recovery classes, but unfortunately it turned out that I liked the idea of teaching Credit Recovery classes more than actually teaching them. Let me tell you, teaching Credit Recovery Classes was not a good fit for me. But I didn’t know that at the time. When I found myself teaching eight different students eight different subjects or levels at the same time, I started to clue in. I realized that I liked taking a group of kids from point a to point z. I didn’t like taking individual students from points a,b, c to points x, y, or z. I didn’t like the individual tutoring aspect of teaching the Credit Recovery Classes. Some teachers do. Some teachers love it, but I hated it, absolutely hated it. Teaching those classes was killing my spirit. Tutoring all those kids in all those subjects wasn’t a good fit for me even though teaching that type of student is a good fit .

Now, happily I’m teaching classes and kids that are a good fit for me, and I love it. I’m energized by it. I know that I’m lucky to be able to do this because I know that there are teachers out there that are teaching classes that aren’t a good fit for them and their spirit is dying. It’s easy to say if the class doesn’t fit, then don’t teach it. But, we all know that sometimes our options are very limited to the point that it’s either teach what isn’t a good fit or don’t teach at all. That’s a hard choice for someone who wants to teach or maybe it isn’t that hard given that more than 50% of new teachers quit within the first five years. Teaching is not for everyone. It’s important to follow your bliss. Life’s too short.

At this point I just want to say that at long last Sean Donahey and I have finally gotten together to do that interview I’ve been wanting to do for so long. We’ve both been so busy and didn’t seem to have time to get together. finally Sean said let’s just do it, and we did. I’m going to edit it later this week and hope to have it ready to post by the weekend.

Sean’s a really cool guy and has done many other cool things other than teaching . I know you’ll find the interview interesting. It’s amazing what you don’t know about people you pass in the halls everyday and sit with at committee meetings each month. I’ll be posting show notes so check here for any links.

 
icon for podpress  What makes a good teacher? [6:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (379)

Mar

2

On becoming a networked teacher

Filed Under Blogging in and out of the Classroom | 3 Comments

networked-teacherjpg.jpgI’m wanting way too much. I’m like a little kid in a candy store except my candy store is the World Wide Web, and the candy is all the exciting digital technology that’s out there, never mind all those interesting websites to read and podcasts to listen to . I ‘ve been so busy grabbing all that yummy candy and trying to unwrap it for my classroom blog it seems I’ve little time for anything else, including this blog. At least a regular candy store is closed some of the time unlike the WWW which is open all the time and will let me in at 8:00pm and let me stay until 1:30 am. No problem.

I do feel as if I’m making some headway though. Thanks to bloggers like Kevin, Sue, and Chrissy who’ve helped me unwrap some of the digital candy like like Voice Thread, and Voki, I’ve been able to create a classroom blog that engages my reluctant learners. I ‘ve learned so much in the last while that I’m starting to feel that I’m no longer a newly landed immigrant who has to constantly struggle to make her way through the digital technology. I keep telling myself that it took me years of practice to become a proficient gardener, seamstress and knitter. Why would it be any different with digital technology. I’m still learning new things about gardening, sewing and knitting. Things change over time. Come to think of it, teaching’s no different. It takes a long while to become proficient at it, and there’s always something new. Teachers are life long learners. Things change in teaching too.

Teachers are gradually moving toward becoming Networked Teachers. (Courosa’s graphic of “The Networked Teacher” that I uploaded from Flickr illustrates this very well.) Come to think of it, I’m well on my way to becoming a Networked Teacher myself . The Networked Teacher takes the curriculum documents which are a given for his or her subject areas and creates lesson plans that will deliver the curriculum by interacting with such things as popular media, print and digital resources, video conferences, social networking services, social bookmarking, digital photo sharing, wikis, podcasts and blogs as well as interacting with colleagues, students and their families and the local community. The Networked Teacher has new sets of tools to help engage her students and make their learning more relevant and meaningful. Of course, this presupposes that the curriculum the Networked Teacher is given is relevant and meaningful for students in the 21st century. I’m thinking there may have to be some changes in curriculum made- but that’s a whole other topic.

Just to get you thinking about the topic, I invite you to watch [youtube aPQlu5Vxm28]. Enjoy.

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