Tonight I will tell you about my favorite teachers and those that I think were the best and I'll tell you why. I'd like to have you tell me about yours as well and I hope in a later post that I might be able to draw some conclusions from what we think makes a good teacher.
My best teacher was Mrs. Doty who taught me in both fourth and sixth grades. Mrs. Doty was noted as a tough teacher who didn't waste time and had high standards. She was also a fair teacher who used a variety of methods for evaluation and recognized and acknowledged the strengths and weaknesses of children. I was one of those students who finished my work quickly and well and she was careful to make sure all in the class who needed it always had new and challenging work to do when we were done with assignments. She used the old school methods to teach making sure we all knew our math facts, our handwriting was good, rote was the norm, but she also made room for outdoor education and other fun activities. It should be noted that many of my classmates didn't like Mrs. Doty because of the high standards she demanded.
In high school I had another excellent teacher named Mr. Lorch. Mr. Lorch was the band director. He made sure that parents were involved not only through concerts but also to provide funds. We used funds raised by "band parents" to buy uniforms, go to band camp and annually attend the U of M band day on a football day. We attended parades in the area and band contests with different programs created and practiced for each event. He was very knowledgeable about the instruments, music history, composing, reading music and other related topics. I was not particularly talented but he made us all try as hard as we could. You would call him an inspiring teacher and I do not know of any student who did not like him.
So what made them good teachers? Let me hear about your favorites and see if there appear to be common threads. Press the comment button to send your comments.
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