How do you define a good teacher?

[NewEnglands_KyoSa]

Some of the things that I try to do and have seen in other teachers that I admire are:

1. Keep the whole class motivated. It is too easy to teach the good students and forget the average student.

2. Adapt teaching style to student. Some learn by hearing, some by seeing and some you have to physically move their body to make them understand the movement.

3. Maintain a sense of humor and fun during class without giving up control. This is very hard to do.

Excellent points, especially the first one. I always tell the younger black belts who get frustrated with teaching some of the orientations that it is always easy to teach the talented students. Teaching everyone else takes someone special.

my master instructor always says that to the new instructors, its not the good kids you have to worry about, and pay the most attention to, its the weakest kid you should be working more with. and he's right!

[masterphoenix]

I wanted to see the different ways in which people define a good teacher.

What is his/her teaching style, is (s)he strict, humorous, does (s)he connect with his/her students or just get through the material, how does (s)he teach the material? How do the students feel about him/her?

It's a tough question I'll admit, so if you prefer, tell me about a good MA teacher that you've had or seen.

I know this is an old thread, but I'm a newcomer and I thought I'd throw in my opinion.

In my opinion, there isn't just one style, and people shouldn't try to be something they're not (unless of course you are working to overcome a weakness). If you have a funny personality, go with that, and in moderation, it will work for you. Your people will probably feel warm, welcome and relaxed with you. So there is a certain category of people you'll attract and do better with. If you like the more military style, and you r personality is upbeat and authoritative, you will do well with people who want hard discipline and want to be pushed.

Being an instructor is similar to parenting, friendship and teaching styles all rolled into one - there isn't just one that works. Assuming you know your stuff, and that you are sincere, you can make teaching work from your own personality. What is important to understand is that not every personality will click with you, based on yours. I think everyone should start with their natural personality (assuming they are decent and knowledgeable people) and start fleshing out their teaching techniques and level of discipline they prefer to meet their own preferences and attract the kind of students they are comfortable having.

What I have seen fail many times is people trying to be something they're not, or trying too hard to do everything exactly as their instructor did it, which just sets them up for comparisons which are rarely favorable.

[Lupin1]

A good teacher teaches the way his students learn-- simple as that. That means adapting, differentiating and knowing when you need to change your approach and being able to do that.

[masterphoenix]

A good teacher teaches the way his students learn-- simple as that. That means adapting, differentiating and knowing when you need to change your approach and being able to do that.

Well said, and simple to remember. I wish that kind of teaching flexibility came easily. It's very hard to teach some people even when they sincerely want to learn. ADD/ADHD, Autism, Asperger's, and ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder I think? Fairly new, but WHOAH... They will argue with you, insult you, walk away from you and all sorts of other stuff.) can be very challenging, in addition to finding ways to teach the average student in class.

[masterphoenix]

Some of the things that I try to do and have seen in other teachers that I admire are:

1. Keep the whole class motivated. It is too easy to teach the good students and forget the average student.

2. Adapt teaching style to student. Some learn by hearing, some by seeing and some you have to physically move their body to make them understand the movement.

3. Maintain a sense of humor and fun during class without giving up control. This is very hard to do.

Excellent points, especially the first one. I always tell the younger black belts who get frustrated with teaching some of the orientations that it is always easy to teach the talented students. Teaching everyone else takes someone special.

my master instructor always says that to the new instructors, its not the good kids you have to worry about, and pay the most attention to, its the weakest kid you should be working more with. and he's right!

A hard lesson. After many years of teaching, I had reached the point that I was focusing on the good students to be more time effective, and backing off with the more difficult ones. I really felt that was the right thing to do for the amount of time and resources I had. Then one day I was chatting with an instructor whose practices I honestly felt were a little less than respectable. I mentioned that philosophy, and he told me that in his view, if we weren't making consistent attempts to reach the more difficult ones as well as the good ones, a lot of our philosophy was just talk. I realized that the turnover of students and the difficulties of teaching had jaded my thinking somewhat, and I was humbled through learning this from someone I had little respect for at the time.

It's true. If we just cater to the fast learners, we are really coaching - offering ourselves based on ability and not on need. One of the great things about martial art is that no one is warming the bench because if they play, we might not "win." This point you guys have mentioned is an important one, and very important to the specific kinds of personal development we have to offer over conventional sports. Kudos.

[Lupin1]

A good teacher teaches the way his students learn-- simple as that. That means adapting, differentiating and knowing when you need to change your approach and being able to do that.

Well said, and simple to remember. I wish that kind of teaching flexibility came easily. It's very hard to teach some people even when they sincerely want to learn. ADD/ADHD, Autism, Asperger's, and ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder I think? Fairly new, but WHOAH... They will argue with you, insult you, walk away from you and all sorts of other stuff.) can be very challenging, in addition to finding ways to teach the average student in class.

Teaching the children with disabilities sure can be a challenge (I have to admit I'm not a big fan of inclusion in classrooms for the exact reasons you mentioned, but I tend to keep my beliefs on that to myself-- it's not PC for an elementary school teacher to be against inclusion, although I've found many are). As for the conduct disorders, being an optional program, I probably just wouldn't accept them into my class. If a kid was going to insult me and argue with me, I'd say he wouldn't be welcomed (in fact, in our school district those are the kids who are in a seperate classroom. The kids with every other disorder under the sun are placed in mainstream classes, but the kids with severe emotional/conduct disorders are seperated into their own classroom).

I wonder if they offer classes on that stuff for leaders of after school programs. That'd be an awesome community adult education class-- differentiation in youth programs.

[masterphoenix]

A good teacher teaches the way his students learn-- simple as that. That means adapting, differentiating and knowing when you need to change your approach and being able to do that.

Well said, and simple to remember. I wish that kind of teaching flexibility came easily. It's very hard to teach some people even when they sincerely want to learn. ADD/ADHD, Autism, Asperger's, and ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder I think? Fairly new, but WHOAH... They will argue with you, insult you, walk away from you and all sorts of other stuff.) can be very challenging, in addition to finding ways to teach the average student in class.

Teaching the children with disabilities sure can be a challenge (I have to admit I'm not a big fan of inclusion in classrooms for the exact reasons you mentioned, but I tend to keep my beliefs on that to myself-- it's not PC for an elementary school teacher to be against inclusion, although I've found many are). As for the conduct disorders, being an optional program, I probably just wouldn't accept them into my class. If a kid was going to insult me and argue with me, I'd say he wouldn't be welcomed (in fact, in our school district those are the kids who are in a seperate classroom. The kids with every other disorder under the sun are placed in mainstream classes, but the kids with severe emotional/conduct disorders are seperated into their own classroom).

I wonder if they offer classes on that stuff for leaders of after school programs. That'd be an awesome community adult education class-- differentiation in youth programs.

I agree totally. One of my assistants is a 2nd grade teacher of 30 years, way before they lost the ability to separate by learning potential. It hasn't worked, and everyone suffers from an inability to go at a pace suited for their cognitive abilities, except perhaps those in the middle for whom the compromised pace may be suitable.

I have had to tell a few parents that their child just wasn't able to keep up, either because of learning level or behavioral challenges, and you can't make an entire class suffer and lose interest for one student. It's a difficult situation and there's hardly any way to be PC about it. It's difficult for everyone.

It would be great if there were special seminars for teaching those with special challenges so we could be better armed, and perhaps able to offer classes just for that category.