How to Make a Good Teacher

I was reading an article from the Economist this morning called “How to make a good teacher” and though I’m not trying to be a good teacher (in the classroom), I wanted to touch on a few points that hit home unrelated to teaching but applicable to life.

First and foremost is the concept of “making a good teacher” vs the idea that a good teacher was born that way. The more people I meet, and the more mid life career changes I see, the more I realize that if someone puts their mind towards something, they can accomplish it. I’m not saying every person has the ability to be a 7 foot tall NBA high light reel, or even that they could be the greatest economist of our generation. What I am saying is that you can excel at anything you put your mind to. If you enjoy coding, I guarantee if you work hard you can get pretty good at it and find a job in just about any city in America doing it. If you wanna teach… you better be willing to put in some long hours of in class work and personal development… but you can definitely make it happen and be great at it. We have all been given some incredible gifts, and the ability to learn was given to all of us.

Secondly, and probably less important, is the value of which questions we ask. One portion of this article talked about how the best teachers don’t ask “What” questions that limit the response to a few word answers. Here is a quick example: “What was the score of the game last night?” vs “How did the game go last night?” In the first question… I’m giving a quick answer. In the second though, I’m going to tell you who played well and why the outcome happened. After reading the article, I realized I’ve always been more of a what guy than a how guy, but the how is way more important than the actual answer… it teaches and informs us so that the future decisions we make aren’t made blindly, but with better information.

At the end of the day, both of these concepts/ideas seem fairly obvious, but I can always use a bit of a reminder every once in awhile.