Good Teacher

A good teacher is a person who values life and holds all people in high regard as important and worth members of  of the human family.  A good teacher is not judgemental, but rather empathetic towards and sincerely interested in the student.  A good teacher wants the best for the student, in the classroom and beyond.  A good teacher believes that the classroom experience provided and content presented and studied enhances the student's life.  The student evolves intellectually, emotionally and spiritually as a result of the experience.  As a result the student continually grows as a member of the community who is empathetic and giving.

(If)When students work in groups (event), (then)they necessarily learn from each other, because every exchange is a learning opportunity on some level. George Siemens states in his theory of connectivism(jargon) that human beings crave to externalize their learning primarily through language in social spaces.  Human beings are social beings who at the most fundamental level long to connect with other humans.  I believe that people are naturally caring and considerate, and that these characteristics are encouraged or extinguished by the people and experiences they encounter.  It is the moral obligation of a teacher to develop these attributes thus increasing a student's respect and sincere concern for others. Whether it is content(jargon), vocabulary, what happened on last night's episode of Glee, or just that their nerdy neighbor is actually pretty funny, every classroom interaction has an effect.  These interactions deepen content understanding and also allow the students to better know their peers.  To learn how to really hear another person and see another personal with nonjudgemental eyes is vital.  I have really enjoyed the collaboration in all of my classes and hope to employ this instructional method(jargon) as much as possible in my teaching.  Also, one person may be great in tech, another strong in concept, and another strong in language.  All can make progress by learning from the other, and all are reinforced in their own strengths.  If the students are comfortable in their learning environment and feel free to express and discuss ideas, then they will better understand the content,  because it has been communicated from different people in different ways, and they have had the opportunity to ask questions and deepen their understanding.  Vygotski states that students learn from people who are more knowledgeable.  It is optimal to have the student working on the edge of the zone of proximal development(ZPD), which is where the student is learning the most from the more knowledgeable person.  This person could be the teacher, but could also be a classmate.  If I group students of different writing abilities together for a project, (then)the weaker will learn writing skills from the stronger and the stronger will learn teaching skills from the weaker, because every moment in a classroom is dynamic with learning and teaching always occurring.