NIKHIL MANGHNANI
Hello reader! No matter how old you get, we all know how important the role of teachers has been in our lives.
BECOMING NOT GOOD BUT A GREAT TEACHER
“A teacher attains eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops”, this quote by Henry Brooks Adams sums up how important the role of a teacher is in everyone’s life. The role of a ‘great’ teacher is immeasurable since they are the ones who inspire students to achieve great things and inspiring such students helps to make society a better place than it was. Hence, a great teacher plays a significant role in a student’s life where about 88% of people think their teachers had an essential role in their lives, and two-thirds of the people see them as role models, according to a survey. The article will talk about what makes up a great teacher.
GREAT TEACHER MAKES SURE STUDENTS UNDERSTAND WHATEVER’S TAUGHT
Firstly, one of the qualities which a great teacher has is they ensure students understand whatever they are trying to teach as shown by this quote, ‘The best teachers I ever had—in short—cared if I understood what they were talking about’ said by Mary A. Armstrong, the chair of the women’s and gender studies program and associate professor of English/women’s and gender studies at Lafayette College. This explains that a great teacher doesn’t only teach for the sake of it, rather they care about the students where they ensure each student understands what they are teaching. Moreover, a great teacher feels passionate about students rather than grades. This means students with poor grades are treated and in fact cared more by the teacher hence this is what differentiates them from a good teacher, who would generally focus more upon ensuring that the good students do well and not focusing on making poor students better. Therefore, a great teacher sees the student’s failure as their failure; hence they strive to ensure that all of their students succeed. As well as they guide you and aim to help the student develop their image, as explained similarly by this quote, “The true teachers are those who help us think for ourselves”, by Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, one of the most excellent Indian teachers.
THEY ENSURE CLASSROOM EQUITY
Another essential quality is practising classroom equity which means providing students whatever they need, having the right environment where a teacher gives the respect each student deserves and demonstrate these certain elements as shown by this quote “caring for and about our students as both human beings and learners, having the necessary expertise, demonstrating our commitment to fairness, emphasizing the process of active learning, showing generosity with our knowledge and our time, and practising respectful behaviour.” as said by Mary A. Armstrong. Hence, a great teacher not only teaches their subject but also teaches the students to become better human beings and creates a sense of unity in the class in which all the students are comfortable to share their opinions without any hesitation of what others will think and a great teacher will encourage students to share their opinion.
THEY HAVE COURAGE
Furthermore, A great teacher has the courage to teach as well as having the belief that they would be able to execute whatever they had planned to do, thereby achieving their goal effectively. At the same time, it is important that a teacher admits their mistakes when they are wrong and creates an environment that makes the student feel like admitting to their mistakes and learning from them. In order to have such courage, the right personality is needed, as shown by this quote, “Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.” by Parker Palmer, an American speaker.
Also, another way a great teacher shows courage is when they adapt with time, changing their way of teaching. As times have progressed, it has become ever so important to make learning exciting, which great teachers do. They inspire students whereby making them passionate about the subject and creating a sense of curiosity for learning which would enable them to learn by themselves rather than forcing them to do so and as said in this quote, “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge” by Albert Einstein which highlights the fact that great teachers spark a desire to learn.
Therefore, a great teacher with these qualities can make a difference to society and, most importantly, inspire the future generation to achieve greatness in their respective fields.
REFERENCE
Some Thoughts on Becoming A Great Teacher… by Reddy KR
Barnes, L. B., Christensen, C. R., & Hansen, A. J. (1994). Teaching and the case method (3rd ed.). Boston: Harvard Business School Press