Posted on 18. Sep, 2010 by kchristieh in education
The recent Los Angeles Times series on using value-added test scores to evaluate teacher effectiveness recently got me thinking about what defines a good teacher. It would be great if every teacher would:
- Be excited about the subject matter
- Be highly competent in the subject matter
- Be good at explaining new concepts to people
- Respect and care about the students
- Command/deserve the respect of the students
- Be willing to accept constructive criticism
- Constantly work to improve
- Collaborate with peers
- Encourage and inspire students
- Communicate with parents and students
- Be fair
- Take pride in their work
- Stay updated on the latest teaching techniques and advances in the subject matter
- Be organized and prepared
- Be flexible
- Have a sense of humor
But how well a student learns isn’t just up to the teacher. A good student should:
- Be eager to learn
- Work hard
- Take pride in their work
- Be organized
- Be prepared
- Be willing to learn from mistakes
- Be honest
- Attend class unless there’s a good excuse
- Respect the teacher
- Respect other students
- Obey class and school rules
A parent can do the following to support their child’s education:
- Encourage the child to do everything listed in the student section above
- Communicate with the child’s teacher not only to express concerns or ask questions, but to thank and encourage
- Provide the resources the student needs to succeed
- Volunteer at the child’s school
- Model lifelong learning for the child
- Expose the child to a variety of activities, people, and experiences
- Encourage the child to be passionate about the path they choose
- Not expect their child to be like a new and improved version of them
- Understand that we all make mistakes, and encourage their child to learn from them
- Encourage the child to live a balanced life
- Make sure the student’s physical and psychological needs are met
- Attend school meetings and conferences
It’s not surprising that there’s a lot of overlap between these three lists. The best learning happens when students, teachers and parents act as a team.
If only it were easy to make sure all of this happened!
Tags: education, elementary, elementary school, feature, high school, junior high, junior high school, parents, students, teachers, teaching
Love these lists, Kathy.