What makes a teacher excellent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people bag teachers all the time, but I am seriously blown away by what it takes to teach today. Teachers in my kids school don't just lecture or give lessons at the board. They are doing small groupings, differentiating, constantly assessing the kids to see gaps in their knowledge, and handling a boat of special education accommodations. I see students sitting on bouncing balls and doing movement breaks and think wow. It's a lot better than when I was a kid.

People don't give enough kudos.

+100. Not a job I could do. Some of the young women who are teachers are amazing in what they are doing in their first job out of school. Older teachers have been wonderful too but I have been blown away by how much these young people can do so early in their career.

The older ones with more experience have been better from what I've seen. My son is in 5th grade. He had a couple of young teachers and they were not as good. Two of them were pretty immature, in my opinion. One of them complained to me that the kids didn't respect her. She yelled at them all the time, used a clip chart, and did all kinds of stuff that embarrassed them in front of their classmates. She was the mean teacher.

Ok, to answer op. An excellent teacher motivates the students, has clear expectations of what is expected of them, is organized, is flexible, doesn't do things that embarrasses anyone, treats students with dignity, has good classroom management skills, has a sense of humor, reads to the class, and yes, smiles at them and deals with disruptive students. Doesn't have to have all of these qualities, but the more the better! We hit the teacher jackpot this year and I have told her how great I think she is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people bag teachers all the time, but I am seriously blown away by what it takes to teach today. Teachers in my kids school don't just lecture or give lessons at the board. They are doing small groupings, differentiating, constantly assessing the kids to see gaps in their knowledge, and handling a boat of special education accommodations. I see students sitting on bouncing balls and doing movement breaks and think wow. It's a lot better than when I was a kid.

People don't give enough kudos.

+100. Not a job I could do. Some of the young women who are teachers are amazing in what they are doing in their first job out of school. Older teachers have been wonderful too but I have been blown away by how much these young people can do so early in their career.

The older ones with more experience have been better from what I've seen. My son is in 5th grade. He had a couple of young teachers and they were not as good. Two of them were pretty immature, in my opinion. One of them complained to me that the kids didn't respect her. She yelled at them all the time, used a clip chart, and did all kinds of stuff that embarrassed them in front of their classmates. She was the mean teacher.

Ok, to answer op. An excellent teacher motivates the students, has clear expectations of what is expected of them, is organized, is flexible, doesn't do things that embarrasses anyone, treats students with dignity, has good classroom management skills, has a sense of humor, reads to the class, and yes, smiles at them and deals with disruptive students. Doesn't have to have all of these qualities, but the more the better! We hit the teacher jackpot this year and I have told her how great I think she is.

The older ones have a tendency to yell and pretend to be sweet and all smiles when parents and/or the principal are present. My older kid had a young teacher who behaved like you describe but he also had another young teacher who was organized, treated students with dignity, taught without using videos
was calm and had almost no disruptive students in the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know people bag teachers all the time, but I am seriously blown away by what it takes to teach today. Teachers in my kids school don't just lecture or give lessons at the board. They are doing small groupings, differentiating, constantly assessing the kids to see gaps in their knowledge, and handling a boat of special education accommodations. I see students sitting on bouncing balls and doing movement breaks and think wow. It's a lot better than when I was a kid.

People don't give enough kudos.

+100. Not a job I could do. Some of the young women who are teachers are amazing in what they are doing in their first job out of school. Older teachers have been wonderful too but I have been blown away by how much these young people can do so early in their career.

The older ones with more experience have been better from what I've seen. My son is in 5th grade. He had a couple of young teachers and they were not as good. Two of them were pretty immature, in my opinion. One of them complained to me that the kids didn't respect her. She yelled at them all the time, used a clip chart, and did all kinds of stuff that embarrassed them in front of their classmates. She was the mean teacher.

Ok, to answer op. An excellent teacher motivates the students, has clear expectations of what is expected of them, is organized, is flexible, doesn't do things that embarrasses anyone, treats students with dignity, has good classroom management skills, has a sense of humor, reads to the class, and yes, smiles at them and deals with disruptive students. Doesn't have to have all of these qualities, but the more the better! We hit the teacher jackpot this year and I have told her how great I think she is.

The older ones have a tendency to yell and pretend to be sweet and all smiles when parents and/or the principal are present. My older kid had a young teacher who behaved like the one you describe but he also had another young teacher who was organized, treated students with dignity, taught without using videos
was calm and had almost no disruptive students in the class.

[Anonymous]

To the two PPs above, age really does not matter. I volunteer a lot in my children's elementary school, and have seen everything. The young teachers who can't handle their class, the young ones who have just the right mix of youthful vigor and authority, the old teachers with a finely honed craft, the old ones who don't care anymore... it all boils down to personality, motivation, energy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
To the two PPs above, age really does not matter. I volunteer a lot in my children's elementary school, and have seen everything. The young teachers who can't handle their class, the young ones who have just the right mix of youthful vigor and authority, the old teachers with a finely honed craft, the old ones who don't care anymore... it all boils down to personality, motivation, energy.

I'm the pp who likes the more experienced teachers, and I completely agree. There are definitely young teachers that have excellent qualities, but unfortunately, my experiences have been that the younger teachers lacked maturity. I've also seen some really bad older teachers, so it doesn't always come down to age/experience. There's a lot more to it. That is the point of op's post.

[Anonymous]

A teacher who infuses her/his innovative lessons with infectious passion.
Innovative does not mean playing videos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the only thing I ask of a teacher is that she makes my kid want to learn, and keep her interested in school. I know that is a tall order for my ADHD kid, but over the years we had many teachers who did just that, so I know it is possible. This year is a total bust. Hoping for better for her in 6th grade.

Agree, and I am a teacher

Disagree and I'm a parent. Unfortunately there are many teachers who have this capability, however they don't know how to teach. Kids already come interested in learning. While some teachers can help extinguish this flame, as long as you aren't mean or overly boring kids will want to learn no matter what you do. Teachers should be expected to do more than just this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Honestly, the only thing I ask of a teacher is that she makes my kid want to learn, and keep her interested in school. I know that is a tall order for my ADHD kid, but over the years we had many teachers who did just that, so I know it is possible. This year is a total bust. Hoping for better for her in 6th grade.

Agree, and I am a teacher

Disagree and I'm a parent. Unfortunately there are many teachers who have this capability, however they don't know how to teach. Kids already come interested in learning. While some teachers can help extinguish this flame, as long as you aren't mean or overly boring kids will want to learn no matter what you do. Teachers should be expected to do more than just this.

I wonder if the difference involves ES versus MS/HS. I should hope that parents actually want the teachers to know and teach the content when the kids are older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Honestly, the only thing I ask of a teacher is that she makes my kid want to learn, and keep her interested in school. I know that is a tall order for my ADHD kid, but over the years we had many teachers who did just that, so I know it is possible. This year is a total bust. Hoping for better for her in 6th grade.

Agree, and I am a teacher

Disagree and I'm a parent. Unfortunately there are many teachers who have this capability, however they don't know how to teach. Kids already come interested in learning. While some teachers can help extinguish this flame, as long as you aren't mean or overly boring kids will want to learn no matter what you do. Teachers should be expected to do more than just this.

I wonder if the difference involves ES versus MS/HS. I should hope that parents actually want the teachers to know and teach the content when the kids are older.

Some teachers seem to especialize in extinguishing the learning flame in early ES by criticizing and yelling at a student in front of others and then are awarded the certificate of excellence. We don't know who voted for them.
One of the qualities of excellence to me is to remain patient and having a calm conversation with a student where no other student is present.

[Anonymous]

I think excellence in a teacher is a combination of a love of learning, a passion for teaching, a love of children, strong content knowledge, skilled classroom management, good people skills and flexible ... and not necessarily in that order on any given day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think excellence in a teacher is a combination of a love of learning, a passion for teaching, a love of children, strong content knowledge, skilled classroom management, good people skills and flexible ... and not necessarily in that order on any given day.

Where are these teachers working? I want to win the lottery! I'd drive miles every day to get them for my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think excellence in a teacher is a combination of a love of learning, a passion for teaching, a love of children, strong content knowledge, skilled classroom management, good people skills and flexible ... and not necessarily in that order on any given day.

Where are these teachers working? I want to win the lottery! I'd drive miles every day to get them for my kids.

You need to come to my school. But, be warned, we are Title I. Most people look at our demographics and run away screaming in horror. But we have some absolutely phenomenal teachers who are making a huge impact on our students because of how good they are at their jobs.

[Anonymous]

I have found that the excellent teachers have three important qualities. First, they "get" kids. I don't know how to explain this but they just intuitively know when to be kind, when to be stern, and when to use humor to diffuse problems. I believe this cannot be taught. The second is a love of learning and a strong understanding of their concept and how to relate the concepts to the students and their experience level. The third is that the teacher truly enjoys being surrounded by kids all dby ay. The kids know this. We have had excellent teachers a few times in AS, MS, and one in HS. These teachers have pushed my kids, encouraged my kids, and inspired them. Sadly, these teachers are rare in our educational system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You think a smile at the door is what makes a teacher excellent? Personally, I'd rather that my kids have a teacher that knows the material and how to teach it than be able to do a good Vanna White imitation.

Says someone who has no understanding of teaching. What the smile at the door does is help the kids form a relationship with the teacher where there's mutual respect. When a teacher has thisnieth their students the students will work harder for that teacher. Kids aren't dumb, they won't respect you if they see they get none in return. The teacher who takes the time to show the kids they care will get better results from their students every time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have found that the excellent teachers have three important qualities. First, they "get" kids. I don't know how to explain this but they just intuitively know when to be kind, when to be stern, and when to use humor to diffuse problems. I believe this cannot be taught. The second is a love of learning and a strong understanding of their concept and how to relate the concepts to the students and their experience level. The third is that the teacher truly enjoys being surrounded by kids all dby ay. The kids know this. We have had excellent teachers a few times in AS, MS, and one in HS. These teachers have pushed my kids, encouraged my kids, and inspired them. Sadly, these teachers are rare in our educational system.

Well said. Teaching is an art and a science but it is a lot more of an art than it is a science.