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TEACHER

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Teacher

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Qualities of Good Teachers

Peter Beidler is the Lucy G. Moses Professor of English at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. His essay, titled "What Makes a Good Teacher?" lists 10 qualities Beidler believes are vital to success in the teaching profession.
Most important, says Beidler, is the desire to be a good teacher -- one who succeeds in every aspect of teaching, just as teachers recognize students who really try to be good students, Students also recognize teachers who really want to be good teachers. "Faking it" usually doesn't work beyond the second day of class (even if we've all had those 8 a.m. classes on Fridays when we really had to fake it).
Second, good teachers take risks. One of the former professors at our institution was known to the students as "Dr. Yellownotes." This faculty member had been teaching from the same lecture notes for so many years that the paper on which they were written turned yellow and the notes had to be kept in plastic covers to keep them from disintegrating. Not surprisingly, Dr. Yellownotes was not respected by his students because he never took risks and never varied. At the other end of the spectrum, Beidler describes an experiment he tried one semester. He didn't assign a textbook for a writing class, instead asking the students to write their own textbook on writing. His students recognized the risk he was taking and worked hard to assure that both they and he succeeded.
A third quality of successful teachers is their positive attitude. Beidler believes that the teacher who falls into the trap of cynicism or victimization will never be positive about teaching. Good teachers meet all challenges with a positive attitude.
Fourth, good teachers never have enough time and never finish their work, but they don't complain about the long hours because they love what they do.
Fifth, good teachers think of teaching as a form of parenting. Beidler says that teachers use principles of good parenting in many situations, including caring about their Students' welfare, knowing when to be firm and when to give in, and apologizing when necessary. Good teachers, like good parents, know their students' problems, insecurities and potential.
Sixth, successful teachers give their students confidence. They realize that what the students learn is less important than the learning process itself. Learning instills confidence.
Seventh, a good teacher is able to keep his or her students off balance. Complacent students are bored students. Teachers encourage learning when they try new techniques and introduce risks.
Eighth, good teachers try to motivate students by working within their own incentive system. Teachers who know their students' likes, dislikes, problems and personal issues are more likely to be able to "push the right button" and motivate students to learn. Every cohort wave of students has its own characteristics and unique incentive system. The good teacher stays aware of trends and uses this information to modify motivational techniques. According to Beidler, good teachers "try to understand what makes students tick these days, and then they build on that knowledge to make them tock."
At first reading, the ninth and 10th qualities of good teaching seem to contradict each other. The ninth quality, according to Beidler, is "don't trust student evaluations of your teaching," but the 10th quality is "listen to your students."
Beidler makes an interesting distinction between the two. First, he notes that student evaluations can be deceiving. Good teachers tend not to believe the positive evaluations and agonize over the one or two mediocre ones, continually trying to improve their teaching. Mediocre teachers do the opposite -- they trust the good evaluations and brush off the negative ones. Beidler believes strongly that the best teachers are those who listen to what their students say about good teaching in general rather than about any one particular teacher. For example, in surveys, students almost universally state that the best teachers are those who are available, accessible, approachable