For those still in school: What qualities to you would make the best Teacher?

[MajorTom 10 / 570]

Totally "not" unrelated to my profession, however I think your answers might prove valuable in shaping future approaches and lessons!

 

Thanks for your time ❤️

Edited February 2, 2022 by MajorTom

[Rosalina ♥ 39 / 2,774]

Being jovial and approachable, allowing students to learn in their own ways even if you don't think it will work, letting students do work for other classes in your class (depending on the assignment of course), and along those lines if you give students time to work on homework for your class (basically anything that isn't going to be discussed that day), allow them to do whatever work they want, don't force them to complete your homework. Also, stating lesson plans in advance can greatly help someone who may want to stay ahead in the class.

[Cassie 1,226 / 23,065]

observe my organic chemistry professor very closely, writing down everything he does, and then do the opposite of it all.

[MajorTom 10 / 570]

8 minutes ago, Rosalina ♥ said:

Being jovial and approachable, allowing students to learn in their own ways even if you don't think it will work, letting students do work for other classes in your class (depending on the assignment of course), and along those lines if you give students time to work on homework for your class (basically anything that isn't going to be discussed that day), allow them to do whatever work they want, don't force them to complete your homework. Also, stating lesson plans in advance can greatly help someone who may want to stay ahead in the class.

These are wonderful tips thank you! With the little time Ive had teaching in person classes, if students aren't busy and doing work for another class I usually don't mind, unless we're actively doing something. I've also been advocating for the abolishment of homework as it adds literally nothing to the class besides stress for the students and more work for me lol

7 minutes ago, Duc2000 said:

observe my organic chemistry professor very closely, writing down everything he does, and then do the opposite of it all.

This made me spit out my drink laughing lol thanks I needed that 

[Sir_Ross 42 / 3,192]

I have always stood by my beliefs and never pretend to think a certain way to get a grade. I have rarely encountered teachers that penalize me for debating them (mostly because it leads me to participate the most), but I find it frustrating how I am usually alone in my opposition. I often get DM's and messages from classmates who say they would say something but they are afraid of the consequences. 

What I am getting at is that you should definitely encourage discourse and questions. I feel like teachers are usually willing to debate topics, but students need to know that questioning you or what you say isn't going to hurt their grade. If anything, let students know that arguing a point or questioning something you said would act to help their grade rather than put them at risk of being hit by bias.

[MajorTom 10 / 570]

1 hour ago, Sir_Ross said:

I have always stood by my beliefs and never pretend to think a certain way to get a grade. I have rarely encountered teachers that penalize me for debating them (mostly because it leads me to participate the most), but I find it frustrating how I am usually alone in my opposition. I often get DM's and messages from classmates who say they would say something but they are afraid of the consequences. 

What I am getting at is that you should definitely encourage discourse and questions. I feel like teachers are usually willing to debate topics, but students need to know that questioning you or what you say isn't going to hurt their grade. If anything, let students know that arguing a point or questioning something you said would act to help their grade rather than put them at risk of being hit by bias.

That's a wonderful point and thanks for taking the lead on those discussions! I feel that activities like Socratic Seminars can help with this, especially when the instructor states clearly that you can disagree with the points presented. Personally I wouldn't talk down on someone just expressing themselves (of course within reason lol)

[Neon Cat 160 / 4,504]

someone who doesn't pull this kind of shit

 

[Joshy 4,366 / 44,986]

Which class or grade do you teach?

 

My favourite professors are really into what they are teaching.  Usually insanely into it.  The more they are into it, then I start to feel the same way about the topic too.  The professor who changed my life was super into mathematics.  This guy would pretty much sob in happiness over some numbers  like "... ah... 3 pi over 8... What a beautiful number.  Do you know the significance of these numbers?"  *blank stares from the entire class for 2-3 minutes* "They are Fibonacci numbers."  "pi squared over six?  Not just an irrational number, but an irrational numbers square?  Wow." (Basel problem)

 

I know people don't like professor who calls on them.  I personally like it.  I like very interactive classes where the professor does call on students, but they do not shame them for being wrong or simply saying they are unsure / feel lost, or possibly lost their attention for a minute.  No shame in guiding, no embarrassing them, and guide them through the problem instead of roasting or belittling them.  I think the dislike for the interactive thing is usually kind of snarky professors labeling the student with something negative like "Oh, if you were paying attention, then you would know."  I do think the professors I liked were able to gauge whether or not some students really did not want to be called on, and so it seemed like they did not call on those students as often.  Students who want to be called on will never complain about other students not being called on as often; so it works out for everyone.

 

This one depends on the professor, but some of them have kind of phrases that just stick in my head.  Like one of them would always say something along the lines of "that's the name of the game."  I'd be sitting their during the exam and the phrase would pop into my head, and I could just mysteriously remember everything he mentioned in the lecture.  I don't know why.  Some words or phrases, though, do not work.  I had another professor who would slip in 20-25x "namely" into every lecture, and it would just really resonate and hurt my head each time I heard it.  Very nice and good professor though and I enjoyed his class, but it's a point that the phrase don't work for everyone.

[Liloz01 1,256 / 19,855]

Besides the obvious "have a plan", have good (relevant, broad and up to date) subject knowledge, manage the classroom, etc. I really appreciate teachers who do the following:

• Communicate (nicely) at unreasonable times
  • This basically means respond to emails/messages/whatever outside of working hours. It's "unreasonable" because you're not being paid, but it definitely makes you a better teacher in my eyes. One of the biggest asshole strict teachers I ever had would not respond to emails past 2pm every day, and no responses at all on weekends or Friday - what the fuck? The guy would also set deadlines to be midnight, so say you're submitting late in the night and there's an issue with the submissions section or whatever, you're fucked. You just gotta figure it out yourself or hope that student services can help you out or take your submission for you.
  • I put (nicely) because some teachers do communicate outside of school hours but like complete dicks, e.g. "did you even read x lab?", "you should have started this days ago, ask one of your peers" (I've luckily never had a teacher be a dick like that to me, but I've had friends get really snide responses like that). I understand that as a teacher you sometimes want to sometimes lash out at students, especially if they ask very stupid shit that you feel like you've been over 500 times, but... just be nice.
• Record lectures (adequately) and post them within 48 hours
  • It's so fucking annoying that some teachers record lectures with their dogshit laptop microphones, with the wrong screen being captured, and whatever other issues and then take like a week+ to upload it. Fuck man, just buy or request a USB condenser microphone and check your recording settings, it takes like a few minutes.
• Create additional communication channels (Discord/WhatsApp/whatever)
  • Teachers who made Discords/WhatsApp groups for classes rather than just relying on traditional communication channels (...email) seemed to engage with students far more and have better class outcomes because of that.
• Ask for proof
  • I know that a lot of people like teachers who let them get away with unsubstantiated claims, but I think its bullshit, for example, a lot of students on my course have emailed teachers with fake excuses while asking for deadline extensions... main one right now is "I have Covid-19". Some teachers do not ask for any proof, they just blindly give a couple extra weeks to the student to submit their work, this might make some students like the teacher but fuck that, I'd never let a student get away with something like that, it's so unfair on other students.

[Baconator 172 / 5,303]

I'd say I learned the most when a teacher "understood" this reference below (obviously it will be the same exam for the students, however students all learn differently from one another and at different paces). Teachers who are easily approachable, can stir up conversations with students in non-school related areas are the best. Finally, just a teacher who understands that there is more to the kids than school, they could be having issues at home, they could be doing extracurriculars or sports, etc.

The worst teachers I've had were the ones who didn't joke around a bit, who didn't answer questions so everyone understood it, no matter how long that took out of class time.

 

[-Lu- 0 / 135]

I just finished school but for me the most effective teachers and instructors were those who made their lessons unique and added interactive elements and humor to keep people engaged. For example, I had a weekly 3 hour lecture on "communications IT and media".. BORING, the instructor would slowly walk around the class, reading off the textbook that he had up on the projector. We'd fall asleep every time. In comparison, my algebra 2 instructor had charisma, crack jokes often. And to keep us engaged he'd put us into teams which we kept the entire year. At the beginning of the class, each team had to take up the homework from the previous week in front of the whole class. Kept us sharp! In a nutshell, don't be boring and get students integrated into the lesson.