Many
of us have had teachers that are either good or bad. For me
personally I remember one teacher in grammar school that I thought
was the worse teacher I have ever had. The reason why is because in
my 12 year old mind she was mean. But when I went into high school I
realized that she was a good teacher who was trying to help us. She
kept order in the classroom, pushed her students, explained well and
was willing to help her students but had a strictness to her. When
reading the article called “What Urban Students Say About Good
Teaching” I realized that all of my good teachers do all fall under
all or some of the categories that the article presents which are:
- Good teachers push students
- Good teachers maintain order
- Good teachers are willing to help
- Good teachers explain until everyone understands
- Good teachers vary classroom activities
- Good teachers try to understand students
But
what I really do question is why do the bad teachers teach bad? I'm
sure all teachers that start out teaching want to be good teachers
but at the end of the day we have good teachers and bad teachers.
At
what point do teachers become bad teachers?
How
do you make a good teacher?
Is
this the formula or is it something else?
Good
teachers push students
Good
teachers maintain order
Good
teachers are willing to help
Good
teachers explain until everyone understands
Good
teachers vary classroom activities
Good
teachers try to understand students
Hi Michaela. I think the formula offered by the Wilson & Corbett article is clearly a great starting place for us to aim to be as teachers. Also, I completely agree with your memory of your middle school teacher. I definitely had some teachers back in the day who I thought were too strict. However, for the most part, once the school year finished, I usually came to a realization that they wanted the best for me, and the ones who pushed me were usually the classrooms where I learned the most. And, furthermore, I ended up truly respecting and liking that teacher.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I have already noticed from my own mentor teacher this semester is that I believe these students crave and need discipline. I think in many avenues of their lives in the inner city, they might not have many boundaries. Perhaps the school and in our classroom is a place where they might need that guidance and discipline in order to be pushed to success. I definitely feel it will be a learning experience of learning how to balance being strict and allowing students to be independent in the classroom.
Great post Michaela,
ReplyDeleteI wish I knew why or when teachers become bad teachers and furthermore wonder why are they still teaching! I think that even though we have all had good teachers and bad teachers, usually the good ones also seem to love their job (a category that we might add to the list). I think that is also the beginning of a good teacher, someone who loves to be a teacher. I also think that good teachers are NOT made over night. It requires years of experience and lots of dedication to perfect the art of teaching. But the trick must lie in between the years of experience and loving your job even after that many years. I also think that the list the article provided is a good formula to have teachers self-evaluate themselves throughout the years, making sure that in addition to what they believe will make them good teachers they also keep students ideas in mind.
Hey Michaela,
ReplyDeleteWhen I think back on all my 'good' teachers these categories mentioned in the article do come to mind. I think the strongest asset of a good teacher is probably the first one, how teachers really push students. A lot of times students, including myself, have felt like giving up, that they are not capable of doing the task. But when the teacher really believes in them, and their potential, it not only feels like you don't want to let that person down, but you begin to believe in yourself because someone so strongly believes in you. When the teacher pushes you, its because they know you can do it, and I think that's really inspiring. When I think of 'maintaining order' I think about a teacher who is able both control the classroom, but still be that relatable person that you can go to with your problems. I'm not saying, someone to go tell all your problems to, but someone who you can just go to when your struggling with some academic task, and are not afraid to ask. I guess that goes with the 3rd association of a good teacher who is willing to help. Someone who doesn't get frustrated when the student is frustrated, and is just willing to find different ways of getting the student to understand a concept.
Hi Michaela,
ReplyDeleteAgreeing with the rest of our classmates, I too can remember a teacher(s) which at the time I believed were very strict turned out to be the most motivated teachers that I had ever come across. I managed to even go back and to observe one of my former teachers (the strict one) and upon talking with her, I came to realize that the continuation of work that she had placed upon us during that time was a result of our class meeting and pushing her expectations further, to which he responded by placing higher expectations. She kept us within the zone of proximal development and did teach us a fairly good amount of knowledge in the field of international relations.
Concerning your uestions on how and why teachers become "bad" teachers, I believe that it happens when the teacher is unable or unwilling to try new things in responce to an unresponsive class. Observing my current teacher, he has one class which constantly wears him out and he's unable to effectively teach them because of their constant behavioral issues. Until he finds a way to real them in and to establish order, the inability to control his classroom will drive him into a downwards spiral. Good teaching occurs when teachers are able to (after many years of experience) control a classroom, maintain the "strictness" and actually push students towards learning and completing their school work. They avoid the trap of giving up and constantly adapt their ways to their classroom environment and needs. If we remember to be flexible, then hopefully our teaching will be considered on the good side.
I believe that teaching is something that one has to go through many years of practice in order to find out and see what works for them and what doesn't. For us that are future teachers of high school students we might seem as bad teachers if we are always strict with our work, or on the other hand they might believe those teachers that let the class do what they want is a "good/fun" teacher. There are various ways to teach and thus create the various sorts of teachers out there. Some teachers after a while don't put as much enthusiasm as when they first started 10 years ago but they do have is the experience. So what would be better, experience or fresh out of college enthusiasm with new teaching methods?
ReplyDeleteMichaela,
ReplyDeleteYou leave us with taxing questions, ones that actually have been entering my mind every day now since the reality of teaching is now in view. I can't argue against the points the formula represents as good teachers. Though, I do think that bad teachers can own those characteristics as well, but just not know how to use them effectively. We can try to understand our students, but that can go completely wrong. We can be willing to help our students, but sometimes that can get us into trouble. I think that good teachers are only good teachers because they use that formula effectively. And no, I do think that the formula isn't the end all, be all when it comes to defining good teachers. There is uniqueness in all of us that is not expressed as a variable, here, but can lead to our students really getting close to us and respecting us. The most important thing about a teacher, in my opinion, is just having the natural mentality to do the task and to be flexible through every obstacle. This opinion isn't considered in the formula either.
The only way to find out is by practicing how to do this better and better each year.
When I look at what teachers I may have considered "bad" I think of the ways in which they were bad. They may have been boring and not really trying, but I now think it was lack of experience. I fear that I may be that way when I begin to teach, but that fear is what I believe will push me to become a "good" teacher. Being a "good" teacher is something that takes years of experience, and I realize this. I may go through my rough patches but it's that search for a non existing perfection that will drive me to be a teacher that I want to be and that I know will be considered a "good" teacher. In order to be a completely "bad" teacher I think you have to just not care. But I don't think I have actually come across a teacher that just blatantly not cares about his/her students and their education. They are just teachers that have yet to find what works best for them.
ReplyDeleteHi Michaela. I think you're correct in that almost every teacher who starts out wants to be the best teacher that she/he could be. Of this I am certain, after all, no one gets into this profession because of potential income streams (though some of those cushy gigs in the suburbs with very high security sound awfully appealing).
ReplyDeleteI think Felipe makes some excellent points. On one hand, you have to realize that it will take time, despite best intentions and on the other hand.. the sad reality is also that somewhere along the lines, the good intentions fade and are overcome by resignation if not even hostility. That is one of my great personal fears - being a cynical bastard about many many things, becoming cynical about my future students, or my profession is a trap I never want to fall in.And it can be trying, I know this from personal experience, from my exposure to utterly unmotivated students in Korea (frankly, the Korean teachers often had even bigger difficulties with this).. If you take everything a teacher may say to his/her peers at times at face value, you'd be horrified, but one has to realize it's also a way of blowing off steam and much better it be done there, with colleagues who may experience same issues, than with your students in your classroom (this is why I am not as horrified of the warnings of "don't hang out in the teacher's lounge" as others are. because I know one of the functions it serves and know not to take everything said in there at pure face value) .
Ultimately, I think it comes down to understanding and respecting your students, passion and creativity/flexibility. These aspects along with high goals/standards pretty much encompass the points made in the article, no?
In my experience, (and this may be dated, since I'm an old man) the biggest issue for teachers was probably their inflexibility, meaning they knew one way to teach and weren't willing to compromise or experiment, even if their students were bored or unmotivated by their style/approach. These teacher simply thought this was the "right way" to learn.. or felt it was incumbent upon their students to adopt to their teaching style/method... because they were "the teacher".
Attitudes on such mistakes of the past have changed, and I have seen this in observing the current younger generation of teachers. The educational background aspiring teachers now receive also completely challenges/strongly disputed such a stance,.... and that, I believe is a good thing.
There is one word stuck in my head from the responses to this week's readings: formula. We all would like to believe there is a formula for good teaching, but I think that is false. Teachers have to teach in the context of their students, experience, goals, and knowledge of best practice. There are strategies, methods, and approaches that can direct and improve one's teaching but there is no one single formula. And all these tools we have we can only use according to who we are as human beings and what we want to accomplish as teachers.
ReplyDeleteHey Michaela,
ReplyDeleteI found this article indispensable, and I'm so glad we got the chance to read it for class. To respond to your question, "At what point do teachers BECOME bad teachers?" I think it might primarily have to do with teachers' stress levels/feeling of being "overwhelmed," and that personal struggle seeps into into their teaching style and affects students negatively. As a student growing up in Naperville and Evanston, I was privileged enough to have pretty consistently great teachers, with a couple exceptions (namely, a teacher who apparently had no teaching experience and somehow got a job as a middle school social studies teacher. He sat at the front of the classroom and had us read from the textbook...oh, and showed us pictures of elaborate snow structures on the Internet. He didn't come back the following year.) But I digress...the teachers I had were generally dedicated, experienced, and generally had a positive attitude. My 7th and 8th grade literature teacher, Ms. Wall, had a profound effect on me. She definitely pushed us all, and got a reputation for being "hard". There were definitely a few students who were on her "bad" side. But I loved words and writing, and she always encouraged me to write poetry and excel on a district-wide test called WordMasters. I felt like she was pushing me to my full potential, and that felt great (to echo one of the students from the Wilson & Corbett article)! Until college, I didn't have another teacher who I truly deeply felt "believed in me." The emotional impact of that has been really powerful over the years. Of course, this was another trait that urban students said was good for teachers to have. I hope that I can clearly communicate my belief in my students to them, and be a Ms. Wall for them.
I totally agree with Oana. I would like to add that teachers are human first, and their motivations for teaching can change over time. In addition to that "humanness" it is important to realize that fairness is not about giving everyone the same thing, but giving everyone what they need. To refer to your story, maybe your teacher saw you needed a tougher hand at that point, so she was trying to be fair to you. I am glad that in retrospect you can see her as a positive influence even if you did not see it at the time. I will take this lesson with me as a teacher in hopes that it will help me not take it personally when a student is not realizing my intentions.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar experience to yours. I had this middle school teacher I hated but when I went to observe her I realized she had the students best interest in mind. I think its wrong to say teachers are classified as good or bad. Everybody has good and bad days. I discovered during teaching I'm not good at classroom management with the whole class but I'm better connecting with individual students. I don't think this makes me a bad teacher but it is a learning process.
ReplyDelete