What do you like to see in a teacher?

[angell1]

i’m currently in teacher’s college, hoping to work in catholic education.

i want to know what you guys think is important for education these days. what do you want your kids to get out of school the most?

also, because of my disabiolity, i’m predicting some parents will be wary of having a teacher like me so i want to set up meetings to talk about their kids, their strengths and struggles, any special needs, ETC…

so can you guys help me practice? if you’d like to, please tell me about your kids. anything you would want a teacher to know about them.

i know catholic education is suffering a lot. many kids go through catholic school their whole life and don’t really come out loving God or neighbour more than other people. i don’t really know how much of an impact i will be able to make. i mean, does anyone really remember what their grade 3 teacher taught them, for example? but have to start somewhere i guess, right?

also, do you homeschool, catholic school or public school and why?

 

[redbetta]

I’ve been to Catholic schools for 14 years and only recently graduated. I would like to offer what I have like in my teachers, but, which subject areas are you planning on teaching. And are you planning on teaching primary, middle, or secondary school?

 

[angell1]

I’ve been to Catholic schools for 14 years and only recently graduated. I would like to offer what I have like in my teachers, but, which subject areas are you planning on teaching. And are you planning on teaching primary, middle, or secondary school?

i’m in the program for elementary school. k-7. we don’t really have middle school in canada

 

[AClaire11]

The school I worked at was very weak on discipline, to the extent that I got reprimanded for harshly saying “No!” when a pre-K boy shoved another boy’s head into the bathroom stall door. So I think firm discipline and real consequences are important, for the student’s growth and for the safety of other students. I’m not saying be an authoritarian tyrant, mind you.

A thing they did in the 1st grade that I really liked was divide the class into reading groups of 4 or 5 students based on current skill and every day they’d practice reading aloud to each other.

 

[Porknpie]

i’m currently in teacher’s college, hoping to work in catholic education.

i want to know what you guys think is important for education these days. what do you want your kids to get out of school the most?

also, because of my disabiolity, i’m predicting some parents will be wary of having a teacher like me so i want to set up meetings to talk about their kids, their strengths and struggles, any special needs, ETC…

so can you guys help me practice? if you’d like to, please tell me about your kids. anything you would want a teacher to know about them.

i know catholic education is suffering a lot. many kids go through catholic school their whole life and don’t really come out loving God or neighbour more than other people. i don’t really know how much of an impact i will be able to make. i mean, does anyone really remember what their grade 3 teacher taught them, for example? but have to start somewhere i guess, right?

also, do you homeschool, catholic school or public school and why?

Angel,

Do just this: teach.

Don’t be or do other things. Examples only:

• don’t be a comedian to the class
• don’t be a pretend member of “The View” to the class
• don’t philosophize about your person opinions on matters not related to the subjects you are teaching.

In short, give 100% of your time, energy and effort, towards teaching the class the subject that you are employed to teach.

 

[Regina7]

My kids were in Catholic school, but now I homeschool. There are several reasons for this, but one was that religion was just a class- it wasn’t integrated into the day in any way. The only time God came up was during the 30-min religion period. I don’t blame only the teachers for this, as many parents sent their kids to Catholic school because the education was better, not for the Catholic aspect.

So, I’d recommend for you, especially since you plan on teaching in Catholicschools- be Catholic. All the time. Don’t apologize for it. Kids look up to their teachers and seeing a happy Catholic, who isn’t afraid to discuss her faith, is inspiring.

Remember too that while it’s great if the kids succeed academically, the ultimate, and ONLY important, goal is to get them to heaven. As a teacher, you can help in this.

 

[angell1]

My kids were in Catholic school, but now I homeschool. There are several reasons for this, but one was that religion was just a class- it wasn’t integrated into the day in any way. The only time God came up was during the 30-min religion period. I don’t blame only the teachers for this, as many parents sent their kids to Catholic school because the education was better, not for the Catholic aspect.

So, I’d recommend for you, especially since you plan on teaching in Catholicschools- be Catholic. All the time. Don’t apologize for it. Kids look up to their teachers and seeing a happy Catholic, who isn’t afraid to discuss her faith, is inspiring.

Remember too that while it’s great if the kids succeed academically, the ultimate, and ONLY important, goal is to get them to heaven. As a teacher, you can help in this.

you basically echo what i’ve been feeling and noticing.

which is why i want to work in a catholic school; at least i can live out my faith in that concrete way.

i don’t really know if that would be possible if i worked in a public school. i can probablly be catholic there but i’m sure i’d get a bunch of angry parents at my door and be out of a job pretty quick

 

[Anglewannabe]

also, because of my disabiolity, i’m predicting some parents will be wary of having a teacher like me so i want to set up meetings to talk about their kids, their strengths and struggles, any special needs, ETC…

Just curious, but what disability do you have that would upset parents? And how does setting up a meeting to talk about their kids change your situation? I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer, but I think the reason most teachers don’t set up meetings with the parents is because sadly a lot of parents don’t care to deal with the situations at school.

so can you guys help me practice? if you’d like to, please tell me about your kids. anything you would want a teacher to know about them.

Don’t live with someone outside of marriage and say grace before you eat in a quiet way but noticeable way

i mean, does anyone really remember what their grade 3 teacher taught them, for example?

Well, I can remember in grade 4 we went to a skating rink. When we came back, the teacher asked ‘Did anyone not like the outing’ and when one girl put up her hand (mine also went up but she didn’t see me) she turned to the other girl and said ‘Well, then maybe you won’t like the next outing and we will just not let you come’ My hand quicj=kly went down. I think it was not very Christian to trap a student like that.

Angie

 

[Rhubarb]

Getting the parents involved. Parent participation is a huge marker of how well a student will do.

 

[pensmama87]

Angel, if I recall correctly, is your disability vision impairment? I could imagine parents being concerned about classroom management in particular if that were the case. I found when I was teaching that I could be warm and pleasant while still very firm about expectations and consequences. It’s a myth that strict teachers are always mean and nice teachers don’t discipline/grade hard/etc.

One important thing to remember is that no matter what, you won’t please everybody - especially parents. There’s always the parent who’s upset about a C for C work (or the parent who views you as a glorified babysitter so whyyyy are you calling again about a behavior problem?) (Not that I have any experience with those.)

 

[Allegra]

The one thing that’s most important to me is that my child be both physically and emotionally safe at school. I don’t want her to be afraid to go or to be afraid to shine. I’m very concerned about bullying and when it comes to my kid, I don’t really care about the other kids’ excuses. I’m a teacher myself, and I always strive to have a positive and safe classroom environment. If I didn’t, my students could not achieve what they are able to achieve.

The second thing I care about is that the teacher is able to maintain a reasonable pace, facilitate easy transitions, and ward off distractions. I think this is 90% of classroom management. If there’s anything in heredity, there’s a pretty good chance my kids will have ADD, so this is really important to me. I’ve seen how stressful it is for a child with attention or sensory issues to be in a classroom where the teacher struggles with planning transitions, having flexible plans that engage learners, or staying on-task herself. Also, on this subject, I’m very wary of teachers who are addicted to various forms of screens themselves. I don’t care how many people scream “visual learners!”, I have never seen a class of elementary students engaged in higher thinking by passively watching pixels on a screen. Kids need to be physically engaged in doing something in order to learn. Poor use of technology is one of my pet peeves.

The last thing that is important to me is a passion for literature. The way we teach children to read these days is, in my opinion, appalling. Kids rarely see any literature in school that is poetic, artistic, imaginative, or deep in any way. Even at 5-8, you walk into a classroom and see nothing but junk as far as literature is concerned. Most the fiction the kids get is about middle school drama and the vast majority are paper thin books entitled “Planets” or “Rabbits”. Although I completely understand that individual teachers have very little control of the actual curriculum that they are forced to teach, they do have control over their classroom environment. I want to see beautiful books like “The Secret Garden”, “Maniac Magee”, and “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” displayed prominently. I get dismayed when I walk into the classroom and the entire decorative theme is based on “Captain Underpants”.

 

[Anglewannabe]

The one thing that’s most important to me is that my child be both physically and emotionally safe at school. I don’t want her to be afraid to go or to be afraid to shine. I’m very concerned about** bullying and when it comes to my kid, I don’t really care about the other kids’ excuses**. I’m a teacher myself, and I always strive to have a positive and safe classroom environment. If I didn’t, my students could not achieve what they are able to achieve.

.

I am with you on that one. However, I am very curious how as a teacher you manage to stop bullying in your class room when society disallows the teacher to enforce consequences on the bully

 

[Allegra]

I am with you on that one. However, I am very curious how as a teacher you manage to stop bullying in your class room when society disallows the teacher to enforce consequences on the bully

I have not found that to be the case. I have clear expectations for student behavior while in my classroom. If the student’s fail to meet those expectations, there are consequences. Of course, that doesn’t mean that bullying won’t happen outside of my room, but it sure isn’t going to be going on inside my room! Also, as I said before, 90% is maintaining an orderly classroom in the first place. Students have a lot less time to worry about maintaining their pecking order if they are actively engaged in learning the whole time they are in the room. The last 10% can generally be accomplished by encouraging positive social interactions, the importance of teamwork, and the importance of acknowledging the value in each student. One of the positive reinforcements my building has put in place is to reward students who are going above and beyond with purple tickets, that they can exchange for prizes. With my older students, I model acknowledging students for their positive contributions to the class. I also allow the student to nominate one another for purple tickets, so frequently in class, a bolder student might raise their hand and say something like, “Thomas helped our group to be successful by keeping a steady beat,” or “Gracie kept trying when she was having difficulty an she succeeded.” or “Jose helped me clean up the box of tambourines I dropped.”

 

[PolarGuy]

Never, ever say anything deliberately hurtful…and remember that anything you say May be heard for years afterward.

I know a friend we’ll call Jane. Jane stuttered. In the 3rd grade she raised her hand to answer a question and the teacher wouldn’t call on her. Some boy say, “call on Jane, she knows the answer.” The teacher responded “why? It’ll take her a year to get the answer out anyway.”

True story, retold by Jane 35 years later (who had long since stopped stuttering). It’s rendered worse because the teacher was a nun.

Don’t be Jane’s teacher, no matter how badly the kids behave.

 

[CradleJourney]

i don’t really know how much of an impact i will be able to make. i mean, does anyone really remember what their grade 3 teacher taught them, for example? but have to start somewhere i guess, right?

also, do you homeschool, catholic school or public school and why?

You may not make an impact of every child but you’ll definitely make an impact on some child(ren).

My third grade teacher made me feel about 2" tall because a used handkerchief fell out of my desk and she made a big deal about how disgusting it was. Note - I was using the handkerchief to be able to wipe my nose discreetly at a time when I had severe allergies and colds almost daily and didn’t want to call anymore attention to myself by getting up and going to get a tissue every 3 to 6 minutes - and yes, my condition was that bad. (I have no idea why I never received medication - whether it was unavailable, my parents didn’t want me to have it, etc.)

My third grade teacher also made sure that I knew I was obviously going to hell because I didn’t attend Sunday mass each week. When another child asked about how we were supposed to get there when our parents didn’t attend, we were told it was OUR responsibility to get to mass - so if our parents weren’t going, then we were to call around and arrange other transportation on our own. Now, I don’t know about other children, but I had a healthy enough fear of my parents that there was no way I was going home and informing them that I needed to call around for a ride to church on the Sundays dad had to work. Uh-uh. No way that was going to happen. I shudder even today (40 yrs later) as to what the fall-out would have been. So I had to resign myself to going to hell, until/unless things changed. (They did, but that sure created a lot of stress and worry for me!)

It wasn’t all bad though, my third grade teacher did get me hooked on reading the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

So, yes, I do remember my third grade teacher - though I’m positive she’d never remember me, and I’m aware that she never knew what she put me through.

As an experienced parent - what do I want in a teacher? Mainly I want them to teach. To help my children not only learn, but to learn how-to learn. I want them to show respect for my child and others - and to demand that same respect in return. I want to know when there is a problem and what needs to happen to solve it.

I don’t want a daily email with a run-down each day’s lessons or reminders about quizzes and assignment due dates - that is my child’s “job” to keep track of. Sure, there should be somewhere (online or in their homework journal) where things are recorded so the child can confirm when something is due - but emailing me directly is trying to make me responsible when I’m trying to make sure the child knows it’s their responsibility.

I want a teacher who’s willing to learn each child’s quirks and help them handle those quirks as needed to achieve academic success - be it talking less or asking questions more. As I often say - I know my child best, while the teacher knows educating best - so if both of us work together we can reach a pretty good outcome.

In my case, it would have been awesome if the teacher had discreetly passed the handkerchief back to me, and later spoke with either myself or my parents on figuring out how I could best manage my nasal issues - without embarrassing myself or disrupting class.

In regards to Sunday obligation - I can’t help but feel that when asked about parents who didn’t take their children to mass, she’d have done better if she had acknowledged that it was a serious problem for the child and then suggested perhaps someone else could drive them - leaving aside the emphasis that the child would surely be in mortal sin and thus immediately go to hell if they couldn’t get this accomplished.

And, of course, please - if at all possible in the strict time-limiting structure they impose upon teachers today - please find time to read aloud to your students. Age doesn’t matter - listening to literature being read aloud is an awesome gateway to knowledge.

I wish you all the best in your career - and thank you for becoming a teacher!

 

[alphawoman]

I’m homeschooling my 4 year old. Kudos to you for asking this question!

As an effective teacher, it is important that you:

1. Maintain an attitude of constant learning– Be open to expanding your education in your teachable areas. Be willing to learn about the specific needs of individual students, particularly those who require a differentiated learning experience. Keep current in educational best practices. Branch out and gain expertise in counselling psychology and motivation theory.
2. Know your limitations, and be willing to outsource and triage as needed– Understand the limits of your subject specific knowledge. In areas where you are not a subject matter expert, draw heavily on experts and their work. Be humble enough to identify students whose strengths exceed your own, and help them find more advanced mentors.
3. Support divergent thinking– Promote the value of different perspectives and using different methods to reach a conclusion. Remain focused on the overarching lessons and concepts rather than teaching to a test or an algorithm.
4. Foster a climate of respect – Treat students as partners in learning, not subordinates. Encourage sharing of feelings and respectful dialogue in class. Avoid labelling or categorizing students, or attributing perceived student failure to innate traits. Give students agency in their own education, classroom management, field trips, and methods of evaluation. Be discreet as a disciplinarian, and respect the privacy of students when meeting individual needs.
5. Require each student to work at his potential– Foster a growth, not fixed mindset. Use out of level testing, as needed, to assess the abilities of students to ensure that they are working in their zone of proximal development. Give students work that is challenging enough to require persistence. Actively teach habits that develop executive function, meta cognition. Reward good processes to foster learning, even if outcomes are suboptimal.
6. Be a partner with parents – Request information on each student from parents before a new year starts, including parent expectations and student strengths/weaknesses. Respect the feedback of parents because they are the experts on their children. Maintain regular communication (weekly) with parents on lesson plans, and provide parents with pre-reading materials for upcoming lessons to enable families to discuss topics at home and engage with the curriculum after-hours in family reading, discussions, and outings.

 

[chevalier]

Someone who likes children. Or at least can do the job without disliking them. Liking them is great, but not disliking them is fundamental. Or rather, what’s fundamental is not turning school into a life of torment for the kids whether or not one likes them. This includes the ability to keep promises and play by transparent rules. And solve disputes between pupils justly if one even ventures into that territory.

 

[Allegra]

Someone who likes children. Or at least can do the job without disliking them. Liking them is great, but not disliking them is fundamental. Or rather, what’s fundamental is not turning school into a life of torment for the kids whether or not one likes them. This includes the ability to keep promises and play by transparent rules. And solve disputes between pupils justly if one even ventures into that territory.

You bar’s set kinda low. No one who generally dislikes children would spend their life putting up with the endless administrative BS, emotionally draining drama, and high stress antics that constitute teaching today. Particularly when you consider the miniscule pay. Not that every teacher is going to like every child, but no one would do this job if they didn’t at least like most children.