I believe teaching is both an art and a science. A good teacher should be able to exhibit the characteristics of both.
Teaching is a science because a teacher must understand the intricacies of their subject. They must understand the subject well enough that they can explain the same concept in several different ways to reach all students. They must understand the stages of development of adolescents and young adults to help understand their physical, mental, and emotional growth and stages of development. They must also understand the psychology of learning to allow them to better reach their students. They must constantly be studying and learning new techniques and strategies of learning to help them reach all students. Depending on what subject you are teaching, a good teacher must also master the techniques their students must learn to be good in the subject. This includes keeping up with technology as well as new developments in their subject area. This is especially true with Career and Technical teachers. As a business teacher, I have to constantly learning new software applications and learning them well enough not just to teach the students the newest technologies, but also well enough to help students fix problems they may encounter as they learn those same technologies. Computer applications are constantly changing, so people teaching technology are constantly changing with them.
Teaching is also an art. Teachers are constantly having to make decisions about how fast to work through lessons. One of the most difficult decisions a teacher must make is when the students have learned a lesson well enough to move on versus when to reteach a lesson because some students didn't learn it the first time. Teachers must also create their own style. One thing college doesn't prepare new teachers well enough for is classroom management and discipline. I believe this is true because there is no one way that works for everyone. What works as classroom management for one person will not work for someone else. Often the style that works for a teacher is a collection of procedures and philosophies from several different veteran teachers. Once a style is created for an individual, they must continue refining their style as students and society changes. It takes an artist to be able to create your own style and then keep refining it constantly. Good teachers accomplish this, making them true artists.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Your discription of a good teacher is very thorough and accurate. The only problem I have is that, as a new teacher, it makes teaching seem overwhelming. One thing that I forget about is the whole psychology part. It is very important to understand how students develop and mature. This can prove to be a vital component. It is also challenging to continue to keep up with changing technology. In some subjects, things do not change as rapidly while in others they are constantly changing. As soon as you master a program a new version or completely new program comes out and you have to go back and learn it.
ReplyDeletePacing is definately an art. Sensitivity is key to being able to understand what to do in these situations. Moving on ahead has the risk of leaving someone in the dust, while reteaching is unfair to the students that are staying on task. I wish there was a standard management system that worked in default so the learning time would not take so long. It tends to be a long trial and error process that takes place in order to find a management system. Great job of explaining a "good teacher."
Philip