"Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher." -- Japanese Proverb
The 12 Qualities Great Teachers Share
The following article is in honor of all teachers, and in celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week, May 5-9, 2014.
"It's the question of the year: What makes a great teacher?
Here's one effort to sort out the qualities that all great teachers have. I suspect that any effort to create a definitive list is doomed to fail because great teachers are as different as the students they teach.
But here's a list to start, and please write what you think is missing. This was written by Chris Lehmann, the founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. A version of this appeared on his website, Practical Theory. He wrote this some years ago when he was teaching at Beacon School, a progressive public high school in Manhattan."
"It's the question of the year: What makes a great teacher?
Here's one effort to sort out the qualities that all great teachers have. I suspect that any effort to create a definitive list is doomed to fail because great teachers are as different as the students they teach.
But here's a list to start, and please write what you think is missing. This was written by Chris Lehmann, the founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. A version of this appeared on his website, Practical Theory. He wrote this some years ago when he was teaching at Beacon School, a progressive public high school in Manhattan."
Reading Corner
Title: Clementine's Letter
By: Sara Pennypacker Ages: 6-9
"Clementine's only just 'getting the hang of third grade' -- she hasn't been sent to Principal Rice's office for a whole week -- when her world turns upside-down: Her beloved Teacher is a finalist for an Adventures for Teachers award, and if he wins, he’ll be gone for the rest of the year. As it is, he's absent for a week to prepare, and life with his substitute does not go well. Mrs. Nagel doesn't know any of the tricks Teacher did that helped to keep Clementine 'in sync' with the classroom, so when Principal Rice asks the children to write letters of nomination to the award committee, Clementine sees her opportunity to sabotage his success. Pennypacker and Frazee have this latter-day Ramona down to a T, her distinctive voice and unruly curls happily unblunted by familiarity. The great success of this outing, however, lies in the warmth of the relationship between Clementine and Teacher, whose humane and sympathetic understanding of his admittedly difficult scholar will strike a welcome chord with readers, especially those out-of-sync students and their teachers." -- Kirkus Review
By: Sara Pennypacker Ages: 6-9
"Clementine's only just 'getting the hang of third grade' -- she hasn't been sent to Principal Rice's office for a whole week -- when her world turns upside-down: Her beloved Teacher is a finalist for an Adventures for Teachers award, and if he wins, he’ll be gone for the rest of the year. As it is, he's absent for a week to prepare, and life with his substitute does not go well. Mrs. Nagel doesn't know any of the tricks Teacher did that helped to keep Clementine 'in sync' with the classroom, so when Principal Rice asks the children to write letters of nomination to the award committee, Clementine sees her opportunity to sabotage his success. Pennypacker and Frazee have this latter-day Ramona down to a T, her distinctive voice and unruly curls happily unblunted by familiarity. The great success of this outing, however, lies in the warmth of the relationship between Clementine and Teacher, whose humane and sympathetic understanding of his admittedly difficult scholar will strike a welcome chord with readers, especially those out-of-sync students and their teachers." -- Kirkus Review
Recommended by Cubs Editors
Be the Change
There ae so many qualities that make a great teacher that one list cannot hold them all. Here's another list, full of traits that we'd love to impart to our children. Take a moment and read through the list, then talk with your child about the ways in which her/his teacher(s) exemplify some of those traits. It's also a wonderful time to express gratitude for the teachers you know.
