
What Makes a Good Teacher? (2001) - jasim
https://www.unicef.org/teachers/teacher/teacher.htm
======
thomk
Great teachers come meet you where ever YOU are at in your knowledge.

Once they are next to you, they guide you to take the very first step, nothing
more. Then just the second step, nothing more. Then the third etc.

If you are not understanding what is being taught: the problem is the teacher.

Soon you both see YOU have more confidence. That confidence is called learning
and the best teachers know when to pull back and let you go on your own.

Great teachers do not judge you. If you are embarrassed in front of a teacher
because you do not know something; the problem is the teacher.

The best teachers let me be myself and just showed me how to take the next
step.

~~~
ajuc
> If you are not understanding what is being taught: the problem is the
> teacher.

That's obviously false. If you don't pay attention or don't do your homework
or skip classes eventually you will fall back enough not to understand what is
being taught.

Teacher can't repeat basics forever because there are other students in the
class too, maybe they do pay attention and do their homework and would like to
learn - wasting their time because one person doesn't care is absurd.

BTW I think online remote learning (which was implemented in my country
because of COVID-19) could help with this issue. There's no reason for kids to
be divided into classes according only to their physical location. It's
possible to organize classes from all over the country divided by results of
some placement tests, where every student has problems with the exact same
concepts.

This shouldn't completely replace normal school, but it could be useful tool
for keeping struggling kids up to speed (let's say there's 1 hour a week of
remote math class where every kid is put into appropriate countrywide group of
kids with similar problems).

~~~
throwaway_pdp09
I agree with you both. I like to think I'm a good teacher, and if they don't
understand then it's down to me not them.

But I was given an 'apprentice' to teach. He was very willing to learn, very
interested in the subject (programming) but only insofar as I poured the
knowledge into his ears. He would not do any work I set him so pretty soon I
threw in the towel. I really enjoyed teach, he really enjoyed learning, but
his dismotivation finished it, what a waste.

------
a-ve
From Paul Graham's RAQ:

[http://www.paulgraham.com/raq.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/raq.html)

I'm about to become a teacher. How can I be a good one?

The best teachers I remember from school had three things in common:

(1) They had high standards. Like three year olds testing their parents,
students will test teachers to see if they can get away with low-quality work
or bad behavior. They won't respect the teachers who don't call them on it.

(2) They liked us. Like dogs, kids can tell very accurately whether or not
someone wishes them well. I think a lot of our teachers either never liked
kids much, or got burned out and started not to like them. It's hard to be a
good teacher once that happens. I can't think of one teacher in all the
schools I went to who managed to be good despite disliking students.

(3) They were interested in the subject. Most of the public school teachers I
had weren't really interested in what they taught. Enthusiasm is contagious,
and so is boredom.

~~~
kd5bjo
> They had high standards. Like three year olds testing their parents,
> students will test teachers to see if they can get away with low-quality
> work or bad behavior. They won't respect the teachers who don't call them on
> it.

A related anecdote: I was a TA for a course in which the students were
required to write weekly essays. The first ones had grammar so bad that they
were excruciating to read. Despite not being allowed to deduct points for such
things, I copyedited all of them to fix the worst mistakes and returned them
covered in red ink. By the next week, they had all figured out how to write in
complete sentences, making my job much easier for the rest of the semester.

------
rahimnathwani
If you're interested in math teaching in particular, you may like:

\- How I wish I'd taught maths (Craig Barton)

\- How to solve it (Polya)

The former is written by an already-successful math teacher, who applied
others' research to further improve his teaching.

The latter is about the stages of solving a math problem.

I've had an interest in math teaching for quite some time, and recently joined
a company (Yup) that provides 24/7 on-demand online math tutoring. Our tutors
are trained to first figure out where the student is in their process of
solving the problem or understanding the topic. Only then can they take action
to help the student continue their learning.

~~~
_mathtutor
Craig Bartons book is very good - he has a podcast as well "Mr Barton Maths".

About online tutoring: I work in the UK as an Adult maths tutor. I get GBP 24
per teaching hour which includes an allowance for prep time. It's alright as
tutoring jobs go.

I had a quick look at Yup as it seems interesting. But Glassdoor reviews state
tutors get ~ $10-$15 an hour. (some say $11 an hour)

Ah c'mon. I find that depressing. They're looking for high quality flexible
tutors and pay that? I could work in Tesco stacking shelves for that. Even
Amazon in the UK pay more (and I've worked there as a picker)

I find it cynical that so much quality is demanded from certain online
companies and the pay is derisory.

I suppose the flexibility they offer is worth it for some people... and the
chance to work from home...

Anyway had to get that off my chest... I think teachers are under-valued and
under-paid anyway!

------
blhack
A good teacher finds the kernel of knowledge at the center of something, and
teaches you _that_ so that you can synthesize/derive the rest of it.

Doing that isn't easy, and it generally requires a very rich understanding of
the domain. If you find a teacher that can do that sort of thing, you're very
lucky.

------
powerbroker
Someone who pisses you off enough to get better, but not enough to make you
leave.

------
danieltillett
I will take the cynical side and say good students.

------
makach
Same stuff that makes a good leader.

IMO; They will engage you, make you curious, inspire you to become a better
version of yourself and help you work towards your goals and objectives.

A good leader will also be there for you to guide you when you need extra
attention and most importantly let you have room to fail.

To the good teachers and managers I've had, and I am currently having. Thank
you.

------
hyperpallium
Diagnose before prescribe.

Student is lost with only you on a walkie-talkie. You need to know where they
are to know what instruction to give.

Gaps and misunderstandings must be identified to be corrected. It's debugging.

This is all very intensive, customized, one-on-one teaching. But there's no
reason it can't be automated... in principle.

------
aaron695
Most, if not all, of these comments on unicef.org are bullshit/wrong.

Some literally are contradictory.

So what we have is, a lack of understanding what makes a good teacher in the
broader community?

Or are we looking at the differing misinformed opinions as a way of
understanding local cultures?

------
friendlybus
Someone who truly understands what they are talking about from bottom to top
and can fit the information into a larger worldview without introducing game
breaking conflicts all over the place.

Someone who stakes a claim on the value of what they teach and personally self
correct when flaws are found. He or she can debate the merits or justify the
work being taught. The same person burns a path or spends the time to make
somebody be taught something important and valuable.

------
raleighm
Obligatory link to Donald Knuth mishearing this question as "What Makes a Good
T-Shirt?"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=74BfHoE66rc&feature...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=74BfHoE66rc&feature=youtu.be&t=42m17s)

~~~
simonebrunozzi
What a great find. Made me smile for a few minutes! Thanks for sharing.

------
Daub
It is clear that secondary and primary level education is being addressed by
this list. If it were tertiary, the list would sound very different, I hope.

Interestingly, and perhaps related... love is mentioned 14 times and friend 17
times, yet mastery and skill are each only mentioned twice.

------
lihaciudaniel
A good teacher is someone who has encourage your child to discover talent and
find himself by having down to earth conversation. Not superficial character
by being so cold and distant pretty much that's my opinion.

------
watwut
Having to see kids learning up close, actual pedagogical knowledge matters.

~~~
barry-cotter
True, but education in pedagogy doesn’t. The effects of degrees in education
on teacher effectiveness are not reliably distinguishable from zero.

~~~
danielscrubs
All the best teachers in my school either where fresh graduates or didn't have
a teachers license. My conclusion was simply that teachers burn out after a
decade and should switch which is very hard if they have a five-year degree in
pedagogy and not much else.

