What Makes a Good Teacher?

I attended an online session by the educator Allen Davenport last month. This lecture was a part of the lecture series entitled 'Cambridge at home experience' organized by Cambridge University Press. 

What Allen spoke really touched the teacher within me. He mentioned about the book 'The Art of Teaching' by Gilbert Highet and how this book continues to speak to him and inspires him to be a good teacher that he is. Gilbert discusses the following four qualities teachers must possess in order to become  good teachers. 

1.  They should know the subject they teach and continue to learn it.

2. They should like the subject, that is, they have a spontaneous interest in the subject they are teaching.

3. They should  like their students. Allen rightly says that teaching is a relational process and hence the quality of human interaction is very important.

4. They should know their students. Good teachers know the requirements of their students and provide inputs accordingly.

One interesting thing I learnt from the talk is that it's absolutely OK to give the fish to our students than trying to teach them to fish every time. The second thing that made an impact on me is the thought that ' the most important part of education is PEOPLE.'

It really doesn't matter whether you are teaching face-to-face or online, synchronous or asynchronous, your class is successful if you have the abovementioned qualities.

In my opinion, the worst thing any teacher could do with the subject he/she is teaching, is to create fear or dislike in the minds of their students about the subject. It is indeed our duty to make sure that we pass on our liking, interest, curiosity,  and passion for our subject to our students.

Dr. Leena Jadhav

Video link: https://youtu.be/hASv3dFabdU