What Does it Take to Be an Effective Teacher?

It's getting close to the end of the term, and I have to ask myself, what have I learned? What are all these things, that are going to slowly build me up to the level where I can be the kind of teacher that helps their students the way mine helped me? There is certainly a lot to look back upon, some of it I'm sure I've got worked into my Teaching Schema, while others are still falling into place in my mind. It's a lot to process, and a lot to take into consideration.

In our first real lecture of class material, we went over what it means to be an effective teacher. Talked about, the way you need to act, and the skills you need. We'll need to take into account the changing social and ethical world, increased diversity, the actual subject matter, and still focus on being happy, motivating, and ever growing in our own knowledge (though I think the last part always happens without us focusing on it too much). Learning about it though, wasn't introducing new terms. We were simply going over behaviour that I had seen repeated in all of the teachers I've had throughout my schooling. Perhaps that's one of the greatest benefits to going into Education; everyone has had a first hand chance to observe what they are going to do with their life for twelve or more years. So, the knowledge was fairly well assimilated into my Teaching Schema to begin with.

But, then again, all of my teachers were different. I remember that some of the best teachers I had were not necessarily humorous, sometimes they didn't seem like the kindest person I've had at the front of a class. But there was something about them, that gave them the power to really get into our heads, and open it up. It really wasn't about what they were like, it was about, what they could get us to be like. They made us think, they made us stand on our own and gave us the responsibility we'd have to learn to deal with all the time, they gave us more than just the answer to four plus three. They taught us to learn, and learn about life.

Thinking back, my mind always goes back to one teacher. Mrs. Rice, who taught me grade six. She was an older woman, who I'd heard frightening rumours of the year before, about how strict she could be. It wasn't the best introduction to her class, and it hardly was the image I had of her when I left. She was a woman who inspired me, and who I may have to steal ideas from when I'm in her position. We were instructed to keep a scrapbook, filled with things we were proud of that we'd worked on during the year, and things she gave us that she thought were important. There were always pictures she'd taken of our presentations, things we could look back on with pride. I still have mine, and it's filled with art projects and awards, moral stories and everything I'd ever need if I wanted to remember my life at that time. I can remember how she made us feel like family, treating us each to a lunch on her, one on one, or how she would make sure everyone got to go stand in front of the class and have happy birthday sung for them. I remember worked so hard to find out about Athens, or getting the pleasure of learning about Canadian police forces when her own daughter, a recently graduated Royal Mounted Police came to speak with us. She was trying to show us a million, by collecting bread tags from her students over the years, and inspiring readers with a large collection of her own books for us. It really was an adventurous year. I want every child to have the chance to have an education like that.

So yes, I want to make sure that I push myself to understand the social and ethical matters that I'll come across when I teach. The mosaic will look quite different, and for someone who grew up in a small town like me, I'll probably be learning just as much as they are each year. I worry that I won't be ready, or that my first few classes won't get to experience the level of teacher I'll one day be. But I think, that I have a very, rich, library of resources to go to, simply by looking back at all of the teachers that I have had over the years.

I'd like to share a story I came across, a personal story from David Owen, which I found in another blog. I think, that it really does illustrate something that is an important element of teaching, that may be the direction I want to head in.

The best teacher I ever had

Mr. Whitson taught sixth-grade science. On the first day of class, he gave us a lecture about a creature called the cattywampus, an ill-adapted nocturnal animal that was wiped out during the Ice Age. He passed around a skull as he talked. We all took notes and later had a quiz.

When he returned my paper, I was shocked. There was a big red X through each of my answers. I had failed. There had to be some mistake! I had written down exactly what Mr. Whitson said. Then I realized that everyone in the class had failed. What had happened?

Very simple, Mr. Whitson explained. He had made up all the stuff about the cattywampus. There had never been any such animal. The information in our notes was, therefore, incorrect. Did we expect credit for incorrect answers?

Needless to say, we were outraged. What kind of test was this? And what kind of teacher?

We should have figured it out, Mr. Whitson said. After all, at the very moment he was passing around the cattywampus skull (in truth, a cat’s), hadn’t he been telling us that no trace of the animal remained? He had described its amazing night vision, the color of its fur and any number of other facts he couldn’t have known. He had given the animal a ridiculous name, and we still hadn’t been suspicious. The zeroes on our papers would be recorded in his grade book, he said. And they were.

Mr. Whitson said he hoped we would learn something from this experience. Teachers and textbooks are not infallable. In fact, no one is. He told us not to let our minds go to sleep, and to speak up if we ever thought he or the textbook was wrong.

Every class was an adventure with Mr. Whitson. I can still remember some science periods almost from beginning to end. One day he told us that his Volkswagon was a living organism. It took us two full days to put together a refutation he would accept. He didn’t let us off the hook until we had proved not only that we knew what an organism was but also that we had the fortitude to stand up for the truth.

We carried our brand-new skepticism into all our classes. This caused problems for the other teachers, who weren’t used to being challenged. Our history teacher would be lecturing about something, and then there would be clearings of the throat and someone would say “cattywampus.”

If I’m ever asked to propose a solution to the problems in our schools, it will be Mr. Whitson. I haven’t made any great scientific discoveries, but Mr. Whitson’s class gave me and my classmates something just as important: the courage to look people in the eye and tell them they are wrong. He also showed us that you can have fun doing it.

Not everyone sees the value in this. I once told an elementary school teacher about Mr. Whitson. The teacher was appalled. “He shouldn’t have tricked you like that,” he said. I looked that teacher right in the eye and told him that he was wrong.

Taken from http://www.robertlpeters.com/news/?p=2141