What Makes a Great Teacher?
As a seminary professor, I regularly think about how to be a good teacher.
One thing I’ve learned is that it’s not just about imparting information, you can get that from reading a book, teaching is a matter of presence, passion, persuasion, and pastoral care.
When I think of the teachers who influenced me and shaped me, most of the time it was not the content that I remembered, it was other things, like how they treated me and their love of the subject.
Here’s what I’ve learned about teaching so far.
First, what students will remember most of all is not anything you said, but how you treated them and how you made them feel.
Student will learn more and grow more if they see you are invested in them and their learning experience.
Second, students don’t want just information, they want inspiration, so burn them with the passion of your belief in the subject as much as about the subject.
I once taught a class on religion at a secular university and many of the students came up to me afterward and said that it was refreshing to have a lecturer who wanted to be there and was actually excited by the topic.
Third, knowledge is not everything, but it is still a thing.
It does help if you know what you’re actually talking about. It’s one thing to admit that subject X is not your primary expertise, but you need a grasp of the area if you are going to be teacher and leader on a topic. So do your preparation and don’t pretend to be smarter than you are. Students can smell a bluff a mile away.
Fourth, the best teaching often happens over email, over coffee, or stumbling into someone at the library.
Students will remember those small conversations, short exchanges, and passing by-the-corridor moments. When you answer their embarrassing question, give them a hint for an essay, give them the low-down on an idea, they remember that stuff and treasure it.
Fifth, encouragement to a student is a pedagogical steroid.
Students can feel insecure, doubt their ability, and wonder where they sit in a student hierarchy, and feel inadequate.
Accordingly, every positive comment, every “well done,” or “good point,” reinforces a culture of learning and makes them believe that they have what it takes to do well in the subject. Encouragement inspires them to do the hard stuff and finish the race.
What about you? What do you think makes a great teacher? What teachers influenced you and how did they do it?
After all these years, the teacher who still stands out for me is my first primary school teacher when I was about 5. It's hard to remember details after so long, but I think that the underlying point is that she treated me as someone worthwhile, with potential. At the time, I was a new migrant with a strong accent and therefore got made fun of by the other kids. I didn't fare a lot better at home, either, and having someone in my corner made a huge difference. Maybe it's not so much what teachers do as the attitude they take, those of course those things will be linked.
Interestingly, she came to visit me after I was married and had kids – not long before she died, as it turned out.
As a mature student in theological college it was an i threshing observational experience. Some of my lecturers were the same age, many younger, and it was those who recognised, appreciated and used my particular life experiences and knowledge , who took the time to dialogue over coffee or walks that I retain an admiration and fondness.
As a teacher in UK further education (science and RS) students who have multiple SEND issues who respond to the above approach are ones from whom I benefit as well as being beneficial to them (apropos Arbram). Knowledge and in depth passion for the subjects inspires my students and many have said how it is my passion for my subjects which is the factor encouraging them to go further. I believe it was Lemon who developed the social interaction theory of learning so useful in one 2 one teaching