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Treated like 💩- Part 3. What Should American Teaching Look Like?
Regarding Great Teachers
Hopefully, everyone reading this has had at least one teacher during their life that made a real difference for them. You probably know the typical story about this kind of teacher. While other teachers were just middle-of-the-road, or even had a negative impact on you at some point in your development, the great teacher gave you exactly what you needed when you needed it. They helped to move your life in a particular direction, and your life is still benefitting from their impact.
I disagree with the reality of this story. I don’t take issue with the notion of some teachers having larger positive impacts on the lives of some students than others, but it has been my experience that there are no uniformly great teachers. Looking at my own work in the classroom, I’ve tried my best¹ to view every one of my students as someone I am privileged to work with. I’ve tried to give each of them my best efforts in helping them further their education². And some subset of them have indicated that the experience of being in my class has been one of the better learning experiences of their school lives. This is a tremendous compliment — among the highest ones that a teacher can receive from a student — but it’s also not meaningful outside of that particular student. It would be…
