There is an abundance of wonderful resources out there about early childhood theories and current research. We share these with our staff as continuing education opportunities.
We have also enjoyed hosting experts in early childhood development and education at our school and open the discussions to our staff as continuing ed and our families. We feel like if we can all learn from common sources, this benefits the children first and foremost as well as our community as a whole. We will look forward to continue to offer these speakers to families and our teachers at our school.
We’d like to further extend this full circle of information and conversation by using our blog as a forum to share these resources, as well as some thoughts and questions to consider.
Our goal is to spark thought, conversation and learn together. We look forward to this! What better way to kick this off than talking about what makes a good teacher great!?
Click below to watch a TED talk by Azul Terronez on –
What Makes a Good Teacher Great?
Azul discusses different ways a teacher establishes trust with kids. He recalls instances where the kids he taught identified with him. He understood that children were more open to listen and learn from him when he “acted like a kid”. Yet, the kids also had an unspoken need to understand that he was the adult who is responsible for keeping them safe and helping them learn. This is a balance a teacher must strike that is partly intuition and partly learned through experience.
It seems that one aspect of “what makes a good teacher great” is based in the relationship between the teacher and child. The relationship is the foundation for all learning and must be based in trust and respect. Both the teacher and child must give and receive each. For the teacher to earn these, he or she must strike that balance of identifying with the kids and occasionally be “kid-like” with being the adult in charge.
Like all relationships, the first impression of both sides is important. A teacher shows his or her true colors the first day–the child often knows where the boundaries lay and some children will push those, while others remain comfortably within the boundaries. Both the child that pushes the limits set by a teacher and the child that understands and respects the limits can have relationships with the teacher that foster learning and growth. Often, teachers will say that their most challenging student was one they grew to love tremendously. When a child comes in with one personality or another, it can also set a tone for the relationship–maybe a teacher has a past experience with a difficult student and another comes in on the first day. Most certainly, all of the prior context informs the teacher’s initial impression and subsequent approach to working with the child that presents challenges to the teacher’s idea of a peaceful and productive classroom.
You can see that the relationship, from the very start, affects how the teacher teaches and how the children learn. If, as the adult, the teacher can strike the balance between identifying with his or her students as people and having fun with them with being the adult who is responsible for keeping them safe and teaching them, a relationship can usually form very easily. I’m sure we can all recall at least one teacher in our experience that did this well. Think of how your relationship with the teacher began that first day of school. Did you feel safe and respected? From there, where did the year take you? Were you able to learn, apply information and grow? Do you remember more from your experience with that teacher than others? Why? Most likely because of the foundational relationship that was established from day one.
From that foundation, another idea that Azul discusses is how a “great teacher isn’t a teacher at all.” How can that be? I think what he means is that the teacher isn’t a teacher in the traditional sense that we all think of when we think about a teacher. Maybe, when you see a great teacher teaching, it isn’t obvious who is the teacher and who is the student. And, this is often because the teacher and student work together in the learning process. The teacher provides opportunities to learn by doing and experiencing versus talking to kids and requiring them to do a one-size-fits-all assignment to prove they heard and can apply what the teacher said. Even in early childhood settings, a great teacher facilitates discussions, which by definition have a back-and-forth between two or more people. Instead of talking to students, the teacher engages and provides materials and activities for students to experience through engaging their minds and their bodies.
Consider the example Azul gives about learning how to right a bike. Did you learn how to ride a bike by sitting with a group of kids and listening to an adult provide an explanation of how to move your legs and feet and position your body on the seat and over the handle bars? Goodness, no–I’m not sure I know many people that would be able to listen and then turn around, removed from the explanation and apply that many steps to successfully ride a bike. We all learned how to ride a bike by doing. And in that process, we probably literally fell down and failed, several times. Most likely, all of us eventually figured out how to ride the bike. And, we probably also learned some other lessons in addition to the skill, such as perseverance and diligence. Can you think of other skills and knowledge that you gained from experiencing things? Can you think of the skills and knowledge that you retained from sitting and listening? It’s interesting to consider which approach allowed you to fully master a skill or retain and apply knowledge.
So it seems there are two main components that make a good teacher great. A trusting, mutually respectful relationship between teacher and child is the foundation. And from there, hands-on, experiential learning is key. When these two elements are present, the sky is the limit in the classroom and in the world beyond.