SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
NPR is starting off a series titled "50 Great Teachers" and is starting with Socrates:
We're starting this celebration of teaching with Socrates, the superstar teacher of the ancient world. He was sentenced to death more than 2,400 years ago for "impiety" and "corrupting" the minds of the youth of Athens.
But Socrates' ideas helped form the foundation of Western philosophy and the scientific method of inquiry. And his question-and-dialogue-based teaching style lives on in many classrooms as the Socratic method.
Most of us have been influenced by our teachers, and some of them may have even been great ones even if, unlike Socrates, they toiled in anonymity. So, I ask this question: Who were (or are) your greatest teachers, why, and what did you learn from them that made them so great?
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Thursday October 30 2014, @04:57AM
First of all, you have to be excited about your subject. That's not enough of course, you have to be able to draw in your students so that they share that excitement. I wish I could tell you how to do that, but it seems to be an art that few know, maybe they have it at the start, maybe they learn it, perhaps an acting class could help you there. Of course, you would need a great teacher there...
Second, try to keep it in the classroom. Some homework is obviously necessary at a university level, students need to test themselves to be sure they are grasping the subject, but I've seen too many teachers that just pour it on, particularly in cases where the class as a whole fared poorly on a test.
Third, take your students seriously. Even a seemingly stupid question might just be a tiny roadblock to a student's understanding and in most cases, it is a question others were afraid to ask. Bonus points for you if you can see deeper into questions into how your students are viewing the subject. The classic answering a question with a question technique can help draw everyone into the subject. Be honest about the limits of your understanding and push your students to push you.
Fourth, and perhaps most important, work on getting better all the time. Nobody's perfect, you should be learning as much as your students are learning. Teaching is not something you walk off the street and are great at, you should continually be learning what works and improving your methods. Never belittle a student, they can overreact to the smallest things.
In the end I suppose, if you are enjoying the experience your students will hopefully be enjoying it as well.