By Marwa Kotb.

The idea of describing a good teacher or ideal teacher isn’t new (Bullock, 2015), many researchers developed lists of characteristics that describe a good teacher. Beizhuizen, Hof, van Putten, Bouwmeester and Asscher even classified them into two major perspectives the ability and personality views. They defined the ability view for a good teacher by skills, knowledge and experience which aligns with pedagogy literature where as the personality view is the teacher’s personal traits such as kind, friendly, patient and enthusiastic (2001).

Apart of researches and classifications, in this post I would write what I think are the attributes of a good teacher from the perspective of three aspects I consider the most important of teaching as a profession. first teaching profession is about making the complex simple, learning is easier when content, procedures and skills to be attained are well planned and organized into meaningful sequences, thus a good teacher is the one that has the ability to present and illustrate content concisely in simple terms, delivers content in a logical structure and careful sequence, and uses creative illustrative examples and a variety of techniques to address the different learning styles and reach out to the majority of the students. Knowledge of successful results, a good performance, or the need for certain improvement will contribute to students’ learning, a good teacher must be able to assess students’ work and provide an effective feedback continuously. Benjamin Franklin wrote in the eighteenth century “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I will learn” (http://librorecetas.com/tell/tell-me-and-i-forget-teach-me-and-i-remember-involve-me-and-i-will-learn.html ), a good teacher is enthusiastic capable of engaging and motivating students, the classroom must be a venue for them to question, discuss, listen, argue, collaborate, debate and reflect on their learning experiences.

Second teaching isn’t about intellect only, “emotions are an ever present part of teaching” (Weimer, 2014, February 19) thus one important feature of a good teacher is to embed positive emotions into students, get to know each student as an individual, and listen and care about their problems. Finally teaching is referred to as the helping profession, a good teacher must be accessible to support students, take time out of his or her busy schedule for those who needs them, and transform students’ failures to achievements.

References

Beishuizen, J.J., Hof,E., van Putten, C. M., Bouwmeester, S.,& Asscher, J.J. (2001). Students’ and teachers’ cognitions about good teachers. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 71, 185-201.

Bullock. M. (2015). What Makes a Good Teacher? Exploring Student and Teacher Beliefs on Good Teaching. Retrieved from http://www.smcm.edu/mat/wp-content/uploads/sites/73/2015/06/Bullock-2015.pdf

Weimer, M. (2014, February 19). The Emotions That Fuel Our Teaching. FACULTY FOCUS.  Retrieved from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/emotions-fuel-teaching/