What Makes a Great Teacher?

 This week’s article summary is What Makes a Great Teacher: Pedagogy or Personality?

 

We’ve probably all heard the expression “He/she was born to teach” or “Teaching is more art than science.”

 

Yes, there’s art to teaching (improvisation, creativity, and imagination are vital for any classroom) but there’s much more learning needed to become a great teacher. Whether it’s content knowledge, differentiation strategies, assessment tools, etc., teaching is much more than having an engaging, entertaining personality.

 

The article below explains that teaching is indeed a ‘scientific’ profession that requires ongoing learning, experience, and nuance.

 

To me, one of the most important attributes of master teachers is regardless of how much experience and expertise they amass, they never forget what it was like to be a student, including anticipating the questions students will ask. Ted Williams was arguably the greatest hitter in professional baseball but when he coached younger players about hitting all he would tell them is “see the ball, hit the ball.” That’s good advice when you have as much natural ability as Williams, but not for most as hitting in baseball is considered one of the most difficult athletic feats.

 

Williams was not a good teacher: he couldn’t relate to players who couldn’t hit like him, nor could he communicate to them how to hit.

 

Being able to perform at a high level (and knowing the steps and skills needed to get there), being able to communicate how to in simple-to-understand ways, and providing supportive scaffolding as needed to novices is to me the essence of teaching.

 

No matter how much we educators further learn and understand about teaching, we always need to be able to relate to our students. And we all need to champion teaching as a profession requiring much ongoing learning and practice. It’s why we proudly say at Trinity that we are a community of learners, meaning not just our students, but adults (parents and faculty/staff)!

 

Thank you for all you did during our first full week of school. We made a lot of adjustments this week and will continue to yet I hope you and your students (those at school and those at home) are beginning to settle into the routine and predictability of school.

 

Enjoy your weekend!

 

Joe

 

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"She’s one of those people who just has a way with kids."

 

"I think it’s his personality that makes students love his class."

 

You’ve probably heard comments like these. Though they affirm the powerful and unique personalities that many teachers bring to their work, these comments also bug me. They diminish the role of pedagogy and all of the decision-making that informs teaching, and this reinforces a view of teaching as less than the professional work it is.

 

Of course, a teacher’s passion, charisma, warmth, and humor influence the way students experience a class. But teachers aren’t really “born” knowing how to connect and inspire children in a classroom setting. Instead, they must grow these capacities by continually developing pedagogical and social-emotional skills.

 

The idea that a great personality makes a great teacher is fantasy. Most of us have seen brand-new teachers or guest speakers who come in with what seems like the right energy: They’re confident, caring, and creative. But without relevant teaching skills, most aren’t effective with students.

 

Likewise, when a teacher is successful, we can’t just attribute it to personality. Teaching methods are critical to educational outcomes for students, and not all methods or curricula are equally effective. Even in the above example, what the teacher did well on the first day wasn’t simply about her personality. She made some sound pedagogical decisions: to spend time building connections with her students, giving them a structured way to speak about themselves, and listening to them with interest.

 

So, personality isn’t important in teaching at all … case closed? Not really.

 

Personality is important, but the traits that matter most aren’t fixed.

 

A teacher can be soft-spoken, not someone we’d describe as extroverted or funny, but still create an excellent learning environment. What really matters is the ability to demonstrate compassion and emotional constancy, the cultural competency needed to develop trust and understanding with students, and the courage to take risks and be vulnerable.

 

It's important to remember that teaching is a developmental process, just like learning is. But teaching is unique because it’s dependent on interaction: You can learn on your own, but you need a learner in order to teach. Awareness of all that goes into those interactions is at the center of successful teaching.

 

Awareness includes five dimensions:

• Awareness of the self as a teacher
• Awareness of the teaching process
• Awareness of the learner
• Awareness of interaction
• Awareness of context.

 

Each is a continuum, and teachers develop them at varying rates.

 

Great teaching requires an awareness of all of the factors at play in a particular moment, to take advantage of opportunities and anticipate and address challenges.

 

What jumps out at me is that awareness of self is as important in the framework as the awareness of learner or the awareness of teaching process. Generally in teacher preparation and professional development, the focus is on teaching practices and how we can understand our students as learners. But we are rarely called to look at our own identities. 

 

Perhaps the element of personality that most contributes to excellent teaching—as essential as our pedagogy, knowledge of our students, and of course, knowledge and passion for our subjects—really boils down to our ability to develop a strong sense of ourselves in our teaching role. The vibrancy we notice in an excellent teacher may really be a combination of skilled pedagogy, a highly developed awareness of the teacher’s presence, emotions, and needs, and the conscientiousness to attend to them as well as we all want to do for our students.