Teachers and Teaching. Characteristics of a Good Teacher Real person Focus on important stuff Understand student motives Model risk taking Can shift gears.

Teachers and Teaching

Characteristics of a Good Teacher

• Real person• Focus on important stuff• Understand student motives• Model risk taking• Can shift gears• Can read faces• Sets reasonably high expectations• Creates a sense of community• Humility• Content expert that makes connections

(relationships)

Good Teachers are

• Having fun

• Passionate

• Patient

• Caring

• Creative

• Inspiring

• Funny

• Good listeners

Traits of a Bad Teacher

• Disorganized

• No empathy

• Punitive

• Close minded

• No feedback

• Inaccessible

• Appears uninterested

Experts?

• Knowledge of subject matter– Wider and deeper views

• Be careful of know-it-all– Cynical

• Not just content• Treat pedagogy as • importantly as the subject matter

– How to teach– How students learn

Principles of Learning

• Success is a motivator

• Provide a range of challenge

• Knowledge of progress

• Students inquire into rather than be told

• Present a concept 3-5 different ways

• Many more – do research

Teacher Behaviors Associated with Improved Learning

• Clarity

• Enthusiasm

• Variability

• Business-like behavior

• Goal oriented

• Absence of excessive negative criticism

Products of Good Teaching

• Student scores on tests

• Student essays, creative work, field reports, lab notebooks, publications

• Information about the impact of teaching on career choices, personal and professional development

• Desire to learn more

Watch out for PhD-itis

“The new graduate student's lack of humility is a stunning thing, perfect, seamless, and unbreakable. They begin issuing their opinions to anyone who will hold still on the assumption that the benighted masses have just been waiting patiently for a clever graduate student to explain How Things Really Work.”

…professors too!

My advice

• Recognize student as individuals (NAMES)• Make the classroom yours (BE

COMFORTABLE)• Be the source of energy (PASSION)• Be aware – read faces (STOP)• Be organized (OR FAKE IT)• Do what you always wanted to do (TAKE

RISKS) or get help• Allow for creativity• Get $$$ and publish• PUT IN THE TIME and HAVE FUN