What Makes a Great Teacher Great?

 

 

 

Conclusion on ‘What makes a Great Teacher Great?’

Cheryl Jackson, Cindee Karnick-Davison, Mary Kooy and Richard Gerver are discussing what makes a great teacher great. This clip was uploaded on YouTube on 10^th May 2010. I found this video and I feel I really connected to it. This is based on all types of teaching so it is very open and not based on dance teachers but I think any teacher can connect and agree with this video.

The fact children are intelligent, they pick up on vibes from the teacher. You need passion! They need excitement, exploring and taking the correct journey helps children understand more. It is not just about vocabulary or learning from a text book etc. But the quality of progression, all teachers have high demands they need to succeed in, and it does not always come down to test results. I do think this is slightly different to dance teachers, good results are very important, but depending on what that exact class is aiming towards, sometimes it is better if they just enjoy some physical exercise, and have time to relax from home situations or school. Another reason why children start dance classes are for making new friends outside of school, I find I am closer to my friends at dance than I am to my friends at school, you have more in common but I am sure that is not the case for everyone. 

Children need to enjoy their classes and want to come, they need to be motivated, normally if a teacher enjoyed teaching and have passion for that topic, it comes across to the children.

All teachers need to emphasize, not always sympathising with a child, but understanding their situation, some will need to talk about it and some will come to class and be able to breathe if they are being bullied, or troubles at home, or just having a bad day. Teachers need to care, it cannot just be a job, and you are shaping their lives, like I said it is not about learning the facts from text books. But learning life lessons, teaching them to explore, create and motivate themselves, will go a lot further than copying from a text book. Experiments and storytelling from past experiences etc. helps teaching also.

Bringing all aspects of teaching into a classroom or studio, smell, taste or touch? In dancing it’s slightly harder but touch the muscles you are trying to work, look at the muscles working. Also this reminded me when I was at college we had improvisation, and using different emotions, seasons, food, and lots more as an idea for some chorography, to open your mind to a whole new level you had never thought about before.

Connecting to each and every one of your students is important, knowing what makes them tick? Which teaching method they best react to? They need to feel comfortable, protected, and cared for, each child is individual, and their backgrounds, culture, and families’ situations are all different. That need to feel special! They need this if you want them to trust you and build a good teacher student relationship. I think some teachers have too much control over the class sometimes, which sounds unnatural but it is a two way pull, I think a teacher needs to listen to their students just like the students need to listen to them. I think this comes back to respect but I know I have learnt a lot from my students also, sometimes weird animal facts but life lessons as well.

Some teachers lose their passion after a few years especially when they are pushing towards high exam results and all the other high demands a teacher needs to push for. Classes need to have a relaxed feel to them, and children should not feel too much pressure, or feel they are being rushed this is when they stop enjoying your class. But on the other hand you need to set high expectations for each student, they do not want to feel they have been forgotten about, and the class needs some sort of pace to it, otherwise it becomes dull and uninteresting. When discussing all of these skills it sounds literally impossible to fulfil all of them all in one class, but I think this comes down to preparing each class, if you have a set plan and know what you are aiming towards.