“…When I say ‘best teachers,’ I’m not just talking about
the ones I liked best. I mean the teachers who had the greatest influence on me
— the ones whose names I still remember to this day, even though in some cases
it’s been more than 40 years since I sat in their classrooms. They are people
I’ve tried to emulate in my own teaching.
“What
made them good teachers? I can’t offer any empirical answers to that question,
but I do know that personality was a key factor in all of them.
Perhaps we can measure effectiveness in the classroom, to some extent, but how
do we really determine quality? It seems to me that we’ve been trying for
years, through various evaluation metrics, without a whole lot of success. I’ve
known some bad teachers who were able to manipulate the metrics, and some good
ones whose excellence wasn’t immediately apparent on paper.
“In any
case, the following observations are based entirely on my own experiences as a
student, professor, and former mid-level administrator who has seen many good
teachers (and a few bad ones) practice their craft. My hope is that, even if
this list is somewhat subjective — not to mention incomplete — it won’t seem
entirely unfamiliar.
“They
are good-natured. The best teachers tend to be
approachable, as opposed to sour and forbidding. Grouchy, short-tempered,
misanthropic curmudgeons can sometimes make effective teachers, too, if for no
other reason than that they prepare us for grouchy, short-tempered,
misanthropic bosses. I had some grouchy teachers myself, especially in graduate
school, and learning to cope with them was a valuable experience I would not
wish to deny anyone. But most of my very best teachers were pretty easy to get
along with — as long as I paid attention in class and did my work.
“They
are professional without being aloof. Most
academics tend to keep students at arm’s length — the obvious message being, ‘I’m
your teacher, not your friend.’ Clearly, professionalism requires a certain
amount of boundary-setting, which can be difficult, especially when dealing
with older students, where the age gap is often not all that wide and, under
different circumstances, they might actually be your friends. My best
teachers always seemed to effortlessly walk that very fine line between being
an authority figure and being someone I felt I could talk to. I
didn’t even understand what they were doing — or how difficult it was — until I
had to do it myself years later.
“They
have a good sense of humor. They may or may not be ready
for the Improv, but they don’t take themselves or their subject matter too
seriously. Few things are more off-putting than faculty members who think
they’re much smarter than anyone else in the room (or any room) — unless it’s
those who think their subject is the most important of all and expect students
to feel the same way, other classes be damned. My best teachers not only
understood that their course was just one of several we were taking, but also
had a great, self-deprecating wit, often making jokes at their own
expense and even sometimes making light of their subject. Funny how an ounce of
humor can sometimes help students grasp the material better than a pound of
gravitas.
“They
seem to enjoy what they do. Some faculty members don’t
really like students. They are the academics who constantly whine about their
workload and complain about how rude or unprepared their students are. I’ve
often wondered: Why are such people even in this profession? What did they
expect? The teachers I remember as the very best were those who clearly loved
teaching and got a kick out of associating with students every day. After all,
no one wants to feel like a nuisance, which is exactly how some teachers make
their students feel.
“They
are demanding without being unkind. Some academics take
great pride in being disliked, wearing their unpopularity like a badge of
honor. They naturally assume it’s because they’re so ‘tough’ and ‘rigorous,’
reasoning that lazy students dislike rigor and transfer their dislike to the
people who demand it. In my experience, however, most students want to be
challenged; they don’t mind if a lot is expected of them. They just don’t want
their professors to be jerks or insufferable know-it-alls. My best teachers
were demanding without being mean-spirited.
“They
seem comfortable in their own skin. Perhaps one reason
students tend to like these faculty is that they like themselves, without
being in love with the sound of their own voices. This is related to not
taking themselves too seriously, but it goes beyond that. The root cause of
bad teaching is a fundamental lack of self-confidence, leading teachers to
overcompensate by being unreasonably demanding, aloof, or condescending to
students. Paradoxically, professors who appear arrogant and narcissistic are
often trying to cover up what they perceive as profound deficiencies in their
own personalities and abilities. The best teachers are confident without
being arrogant, authoritative without being condescending.
“They
are tremendously creative. They are always willing to
entertain new ideas or try new things — sometimes even on the fly. ‘Innovation’
is a buzzword nowadays, but the term seems applied almost exclusively to the
use of technology. My best teachers, though, were truly innovative, coming
up with creative ways — sometimes on the spur of the moment — to help us
understand, internalize, and remember what they were trying to teach. What made
those teachers innovative was not tools or technology but their minds.
“They
make teaching look easy. We all know it isn’t. Ultimately, great
teachers are like great athletes, dancers, or musicians. We may know,
cognitively, that what they do isn’t easy, but they seem to do it so
effortlessly that we’re lulled into thinking it’s no big deal — until we try it
ourselves. Then we learn quickly just how difficult it is to play a sport or an
instrument — or teach — at a very high level. I didn’t fully appreciate that
until I became a teacher myself and discovered how easy it is to fall short in
the classroom.
“Most
of these things I’ve mentioned here are personality facets. We can’t control
whether or not we have them or to what degree. No doubt, there is some truth to
the idea that certain people are just born teachers because they happen to be
blessed with these traits in abundance. At the same time, even if we are not ‘born
teachers,’ we can work to develop the qualities of those teachers in ourselves.
We may never be as funny, approachable, or creative as our favorite teachers.
But simply by recognizing those traits as desirable, by acknowledging that we
don’t possess them to the degree we would like, and by committing ourselves to
working on those areas, we can become more approachable, creative, and, yes,
funnier than we would be otherwise. It’s the journey of self-improvement that
makes the difference.”
Rob Jenkins is an
associate professor of English at Perimeter College of Georgia State University
and author of Building a Career in America’s Community Colleges. He writes
monthly for our community-college column and blogs for Vitae. The opinions
expressed here are his own and not necessarily those of his employer. You can
follow Rob on Twitter
@HigherEdSpeak.
What Makes a Good Teacher by Rob Jenkins
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