Teachers and their Characteristics

Through my years in the system of education, I have found that a majority of my teachers have helped me in more ways than one. When you are in elementary and middle school, teachers tend to teach more than one subject that they may not be too familiar with and it is hard for them to teach and for us to comprehend the information. I have also found that many teachers are sometimes too quick when going over a lesson or trying to explain something new which takes away from the student’s ability to become knowledgeable of the subject being taught. Through my years of middle school, I found that many teachers were either too old to teach something new or too advanced to go down to our level. I have been taught by some of the best of teachers, and some of the worst, but who am I to judge. My job as a student is to learn the subject, but many times it is hard when the teacher has been doing their job for more than forty years and has neglected to change their style of teaching. I think many teachers maintain their old styles from when they originally learned the material and have not been able to transform to the society that we live in today. I am not saying their technique is wrong, but if they changed the way they approach a situation, it might just benefit the student as well as the teacher. For the great teachers that have taught me over the years, I consider them great because they require a great amount of work for us to complete in order to completely understand the topic. The teachers that have made me into the intellectual figure that I am today have shaped me by their hard lesson planning, and plethora of extra curricular activities. They have helped me organize my life accordingly and have taught me the value of a great education. Being that my father is an educator of 35 plus years, it is easy to pick up on certain techniques, and honestly I believe that he fits the profile of an “old school” teacher. Not saying that he isn’t a great educator, it’s just that I find it harder for someone to communicate with a teacher that is very “old school.”   

Comments

[Casey Levesque]

I agree with pretty much everything you have stated in your blog. I dislike when teachers go over a lesson quickly to get it over and done with because they feel like we need to move on. But when a lesson is breezed through quickly I do not grasp the full knowledge and end up falling behind, which stresses me out. I know who you are mentioning when you talk about teachers being to old. I agree with you, older teachers should either stop teaching and become a substitute or change their style of teaching. I also agree with what you say after about having the same teaching style since the teacher has begun teaching. As time goes on things change, life changes, and new ways of technology and teaching arise. Teachers should change their lessons and way of teaching so that the students can understand it better and learn it easier. Students tend to communicate and understand younger teachers now a days because they feel they can relate to one another easier than older teachers. Being able to talk to a teacher and feeling comfortable with them about maybe extra help after school and such is also a big key in learning. If you are not comfortable with your teaching then you will not do as well in the class I feel. Altogether very good blog, I agree with what you are saying.