No one understands anything until they have to teach it to others. Good teachers are a complex combination of organizational abilities, experiences, and character traits, making the prediction of who will make a good teacher difficult. However, it is my opinion that 5 critical components are required of a good teacher:
- compassion for students combined with requirements for certain standards of responsibility;
- a willingness to challenge students to develop independent thinking skills;
- an insistence on treating all students with equality and fairness;
- continuation of the learning process after becoming an educator; and
- being a facilitator, one who empowers students to learn by providing information in a concise and logical manner.
There is little about being a college student that's easy. Many demands are placed on available time, and the wisdom to set priorities does not come easily to all. Many distractions clamor for the attention and loyalty of students. And honestly, there's more to getting a college education than just attending classes, studying, and taking tests, though correctly ordered priorities help determine what's important. There are many extracurricular activities that can be supportive of the educational process; students that participate in such activities should not feel the threat of penalty for participating in these. I think a good teacher is one who can recognize that students have competing interests, who can help students make wise decisions about prioritizing their time and activities, but who also accepts that there are other non-class activities that are important to the education of the student.
CHALLENGE
I've always considered myself to be a good student -- someone who gives 110% of my effort to obtain a good grade. Students come to college to learn, or at least that's why they should be here. And so I like to challenge my students to give their utmost to gain a broader understanding of the subject matter. This is to some extent determined by the type of course, but, especially in a senior-level course, I try to offer the student all the information they can stand, and then some. I want my students to develop the ability to take the material presented in class and synthesize and integrate it into a coherent whole.
EQUAL AND FAIR TREATMENT
There is no place in the college classroom for playing favorites. It is sometimes hard to turn a blind eye toward the student who -- for whatever reason -- appeals to you. It is also easy to place expectations on students (those you want to succeed), and when they do less than their best to hold them to a higher standard than the others. These and other forms of unfairness are inappropriate in the classroom and should be actively guarded against.
NEVER STOP BEING A STUDENT
In many ways, I feel this is the most important of the five components. I think it's critical that no teacher ever loose his enthusiasm for learning, investigating, and discovering new and exciting things. It is this excitement about learning that is consciously or unconsciously communicated to the student. Transferring boredom to students is the worst thing a teacher can do, because it poisons the student's attitude toward learning and stifles the desire to gain a greater understanding of the world in which we live.
TEACHER AS FACILITATOR
Lastly, I view the role of the college teacher as an enabler, one who provides to students the power to learn. In the Information Age in which we live, massive quantities of valuable, applicable information exists, but locating and then accessing it can be a real challenge. I sometimes wonder if students today aren't intimidated by the amount of information that surrounds them. I think the role of the college teacher is to help students discover the tools available to them that they can use to locate and tap information about any given topic. It's important for our students, once they've graduated, to be self-sufficient and able to locate information on any topic.