The Anatomy of a Good Teacher:
My Personal Interpretation
After reading some infographic information posted at edudomic on the anatomy of a good teacher, I started mulling on the idea on what other four extra virtues a great instructor has, especially in terms of ELT. After some serious thinking, I came across these four: Patience, Attitude, Knowledge, and a sense of Innovation.
The 21st Century teacher needs to be patient. Understanding that student learning does not happen overnight, s/he carefully plans the best “strategy” to achieve it. This patience allows him/her to focus on the students’ production rather than on one’s teaching per se. Production guarantees the students’ understanding of the lesson subject-matter and the fulfillment of the learning outcomes patiently planned by the teacher. “Going nuts” because of behavioral problems in class, which are linked to teacher classroom management won’t do any good for both the student and the teacher. Patience is a competence in education, and we must develop it to guarantee our student and personal success.
Aside from patience, our 21st Century good teacher must have the attitude for EL teaching. Many a teacher get to a point in their teaching careers in which they “lose” the impetus of their early years. As soon as some of them settle down in their teaching careers, they create their “comfort zones” and their attitude starts to slowly fade out. Attitude in our teaching careers implies our strong desire to produce learning in our pupils, to achieve the lesson’s objectives, and to always challenge ourselves to keep updated. Teaching attitude is a cornerstone in today’s education.
ELT, as part of today’s education, requires “knowledge” to effectively work with learning outcomes and students. Knowledge is indeed acquired in ELT programs and teaching practicums. However, it is never enough. A good teacher will necessarily have to continue to develop him/herself professionally by his/her own means. That is, to develop PLNs and PLEs are a must to satisfy the demands of the 21st Century educational scenario. As a consequence, the need to “refresh” or “update” one’s ELT knowledge is an underlying requisite for the great teachers to always be fit in terms of what is happening in ELT nationally and internationally.
Finally, understanding that gaining knowledge is necessary to be in good shape for teaching, an innovative spirit is also a must in ELT. Innovation is one of the most important features of our 21st Century teaching scenario. Getting behind on what is going on in education technology is a problem, but not trying out these new technologies can be fatal for the anatomy of a great language teacher. To be innovative by using the new educational trends in Web 2.0 is crucial to fully engage students in their own learning. The use of those Web 2.0 tools is the innovation educators needs to master and become competent with.
There are indeed more characteristics for the anatomy of a good teacher that have not been listed or described here. The infographic below deals with education in America, but is is our personal task to contextualize this “anatomy” in our teaching contexts. To be a better teaching professional is a matter of choice. To make our teaching memorable for our students is the best way to deal with our students’ needs for an education.
To fully develop and comprehend this teaching issue, it’s advisable to research and expand these areas:
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Web 2.0 in education
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How to make my teaching memorable
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21st Century students and their learning
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Innovation in language learning
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Best practices in ELT
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Jonathan Acuña
ELT Instructor & Trainer based in Costa Rica
For further comments or suggestions, reach me at:
@jonacuso – Twitter
Other blogs I often write for my students at the university are:
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Hi. I'm the owner of this infographic. We'd appreciate you referencing the original source of the infographic in your article:. Here's the links. Thanks! http://www.topteachingcolleges.net/great-teachers/
I got here much interesting stuff. The post is great! Thanks for sharing it! Desentupidora em Santo Amaro