"What Makes A Good Teacher?"

In her article “What Makes a Good Teacher?” Marie Hassett discussed many different qualities that all good educators have in common. In my previous blog about teaching, I talked about the importance of teachers supporting student creativity and individuality.  Hassett expands on this topic by expressing the significance of teachers being able to adapt and change to meet student’s needs.  All too often we find that teacher have a “one track mind” when it comes to lesson plans or lectures. They explain things in a way they understand, but that doesn't mean that everyone else will. Hassett states: “A great lesson plan and a great lesson are two entirely different things.” I couldn't agree more with this.  Yes, we have all known those people that can just sit down in a class, understand all the material, and ace a test without much obvious effort. But what more teachers need to understand, in my opinion, is that everyone learns in different ways. Personally, I tend to get discouraged if I walk into a class and feel like I do not understand the lesson. But more times than not, I believe teachers have more to do with it then they like to admit. If more diverse teaching styles could be practiced by teachers in classrooms, I think the student would not only learn the material, but be encouraged to keep learning. In Hassett’s words, “We teach so that students will learn, and when learning doesn't happen, we need to be willing to devise new strategies, think in new ways, and generally do anything possible to revive the learning process.”