It’s the time of year when we say goodbye to old teachers and welcome new teachers to our school. Especially as COVID-19 has driven many of our favorite teachers away, the school environment is sure to change, and in ways that we can’t predict. We sit at home excited about our new classes, hoping we will stay with our friends, but then the anxiety kicks in. “What if my teacher doesn’t like me?”, “will I be able to keep up in lessons?”, “will I get a good teacher?” With these questions running through my head, I got to thinking, well, what separates the so-so teachers from the great ones?
Good teachers help us get ready for our exams and build our education but amazing teachers teach us more than just what’s going to be on our tests. They help us reveal our skills, teach us life lessons to prepare us for our future, and give us support when we struggle in and out of the classroom. The best teachers I’ve had always made me feel comfortable talking to them about issues outside of schoolwork and were very approachable and caring. What many students look for in an extraordinary teacher, is someone who they can relate to and reach out to, not someone who just teaches them the material they need to know for the course.
To find out more about what makes a great teacher, I surveyed a big group of my friends, asking them all the same key questions:
“Think of a teacher you had who was amazing. Why?”
For this first question, my friends wrote “being able to listen to their students”, “made me feel good about my work”, “taught boring lessons in an interesting way”, “and encouraged us to have our own opinions”. However, the thing that came up in almost every answer was being able to have the right balance between jokes and actual schoolwork. Extraordinary teachers know how to incorporate a good amount of humor into lessons where students are still taught material.
“Think of a teacher who was not so good. Why?”
The next question, I asked for the opposite and I received answers like “strict and boring”, “impatient”, “didn’t listen to the class, we couldn’t talk or interact”, “too nice”, “biased”, “was only teaching us for the money”. Students should feel like their teacher genuinely wants to teach the subject because they have an interest in it, not just for the money. Having a strict, boring, or impatient teacher just makes the lessons unenjoyable and makes us feel like we don’t want to learn.
“Write three words/characteristics to describe an amazing teacher.”
Some characteristics that were mentioned for my third question included “funny”, “kind”, “energetic”, and “supportive”.
“Is it better to have a teacher who is nice and funny, or strict but with good teaching methods?”
For my last question, 57% chose nice and funny and 43% chose strict.
In Grade 7, I had an amazing music teacher whom everyone adored. He absolutely loved music and made lessons so much fun with his hysterical jokes, but he still made sure we were efficient with our work. He was the reason why I gathered up the courage to audition for the musical in my first year at Dulwich College Beijing, then being the only Grade 7 who had a named role. The fact that he believed in me made me less insecure and ready to step outside of my comfort zone. It was then that I realized that teachers can make or break you. In my opinion, the one thing all great teachers have is passion. It is so important that the teacher enjoys the subject they are teaching, otherwise, how are the students meant to enjoy it? The passion that comes from teachers is contagious, it leaves an impression on the students which then changes their attitude towards the subject. Passion makes a difference.
KEEP READING: First Group of International Teachers Allowed to Return to Beijing
Photo: unsplash
This article appeared in the beijingkids 2020 August issue
