Who is a good teacher?

Here is a systematic look at the capabilities, skills and traits that will help one attain the goal of being an ideal teacher.

– Photo: V. Ganesan

A friend and guide: Good teachers are excellent facilitators.

.................................................................The ‘ideal teacher’ is a concept. It is a goal that teachers should aspire to attain.

There is no ideal teacher as there is no perfect musician. Let us look at an eastern concept. Seekers of knowledge are sometimes compared to the musk deer. The deluded deer that does not know that the scent emanates from one of its own glands runs hither and thither in search of the source.

The eastern scriptures tell that all knowledge is within us. But there is a thin film of ignorance covering the knowledge. The teacher does not teach, but removes the thin layer and brings out the knowledge for our benefit. True teachers are not knowledge shopkeepers, but are those who help us to remove the cover of ignorance. Perhaps this is what is meant by guidance from the teacher. “Discover” or “unveil” are good synonyms for “teach.” Good teachers are excellent facilitators.

The teacher in the eastern scheme of things stands on a very high pedestal. He is called the Guru and the disciple the Sishya. The process of teaching and learning is treated as a sacred course of action, and not commercial activity. Knowledge stands head and shoulders above every other kind of wealth. Scholars are respected much more than those who are rich in money, or great in power................................

Personal characteristics

The significant personal characteristics of a good teacher are: appreciates students’ problems; articulate; accessible to students; avoids mannerisms in the classroom; believes in the potential of each student; caring; clarity in speech; committed to the teaching profession; communicates effectively; concern for student learning; conducts practical experiments wherever necessary; creates good learning environment for students; creative; dedicated; desire to teach; develops student-centred classroom; displays exceptional people skills; does more than just teach; does not belittle students before others, or otherwise; dynamic model of contagious enthusiasm; effective interaction with all students; effective techniques; employs different teaching methods to suit the subject and the pupils; encourages interdisciplinary approach; ensures interaction of pupils, and not keep them as passive listeners; ensures pupil participation in lecture classes through questioning techniques; evaluates student assignments in time, points out errors, and offers corrections; excellent communication skills; gets feedback from students on classroom performance in order to improve; gives practical examples for illustrating concepts; gives the details of the syllabus in the beginning of the academic year; good academic qualifications; innovative; instils mutual respect among teacher and pupil; interacts with parents; joy and pride in teaching; knowledge of different learning styles; knows his subject thoroughly; lifelong learner; links the lesson with the pupils’ everyday experience and kindles their interest; maintains a spirit of research; maintains punctuality and discipline through his own example; passionate in teaching; has a positive relationship with students; prepares well before each class; presents himself / herself as part of “real people”; promotes hands-on student learning; provides clear expectations for assignments; provides frequent feedback to students on their performance; provides the relevance of information to be learned; respects individuality of students; responsible; role model to students; seen and heard well in the classroom; sense of humour; sensitive to cultural differences; speaks in a lucid style; employs special methods to handle difficult subject areas; spends extra time with students; states lesson objective and lesson summary; strong work ethics; student-centred approach; suggests good textbooks, reference books, and websites; takes constructive criticism; tries to know students; uses appropriate teaching aids; wide knowledge and experience in teaching techniques and willingness to learn from students and other teachers.

One may doubt whether one individual can have all these attributes. This indeed is possible. Many trained teachers have acquired all these through deliberate effort.

Lecture method

Although the lecture method of teaching has several disadvantages, it would continue to be an important component of our classroom teaching, because of many points of convenience. Teachers adopting this style should invariably ensure student participation in the classroom. One of the important methods for achieving such participation is the use of the “questioning” technique. Teachers who use the questioning technique may keep the following points in mind – Precise, simple wording; prepare in advance; pose, pause, point; don’t use YES / NO type; not with several good answers; avoid vagueness; use elliptical questions for slow learners; avoid tricky/very hard questions; never make sudden jumps; don’t rephrase in a hurry; avoid saying “Can anyone tell me?,” “What rubbish ?,” “Do you work hard ?,” etc; repeat right answers; don’t accept unsolicited answers; give due credit for right answers; comment, “Aha, that’s a fine idea,” “Could you improve the answer?,’ etc and encourage reverse questions.

Questioning in the classroom has other applications as well such as eliciting information (prior learning / depth of assimilation); revision; consolidation; logical development of the lesson; probing into difficulties of the pupils; forcing the class to think; rousing curiosity and interest; feedback to measure success of teaching; evaluation of pupils etc

This write-up has the limited objective of highlighting the desirable attributes of a good teacher in the environment of our temples of higher education.

B.S. WARRIER

(The Hindu, education Plus Chennai, 03:09:2007)

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