Discussion One - What Makes an Effective Teacher???

What makes a teacher "effective"?  It can be argued that a teacher needs many strengths and characteristics to truly affect students' lives.  Teachers must be knowledgable, patient, engaging, fair and helpful.  They must work to make ALL students' experiences in their classroom a positive learning experience, regardless of ability level and motivation.  I have been working with children and young adults for a number of years now but I have a goal to become an effective teacher by growing all of these areas.  I have coached swimming and aquatics so I see myself as already a fairly patience and fair teacher.  I have spend ten years in the science industry as an Environmental Geologist so I also feel knowledgable in the subject area.  The areas in which I can improve most are in teaching techniques and methods and creating a new, more authority, position as a professional teacher.  As a current swim and diving coach at the high school where I am student teaching, I am constantly having to correct my student-athletes when they call me "Coach Mike" rather than "Mr Berwald or Mr. B."  While functioning as a coach, it was acceptable and well-recieved to be called in this personal way and in some ways, I think this actually made it easier for students to "open-up" about what is really happening in their lives.  As a teacher, I am in a position of authority and must thusly be addressed in this way.  My freshmen class becomes very confused, consciously and unconsciously, when one of my senior swimmers call me Mike rather that Mr. B.  I hope that by addressing this early in the year and establishing an identity as a mentor rather than just a friend, I can be more affective as a teacher in the classroom.  I have also found that the organization needed to smoothly navigate a teaching career is critical.  Scheduling, streamlining, and systems are needed to most effectively teach students.  I have been amazed to see how, once established, routines and habits can provide a great learning environment for students in my classes.  It is also interesting to note how much better skilled my senior and junior students are than my newer freshmen students.  As our text book and the Wong's stress, these parameters work best when set up at the inception of the year and when built-up over the first couple weeks. When students know where to turn-in late homework or how to access the class website in order to retrieve homework assignments, it cuts down on the work needed to address the issue and empowers students to "take-the-reins" of their own education.  I have been most encouraged by one of my freshman boys who has taken control of his education.  Carter was extremely disruptive and unmotivated at the beginning of the year.  His grades reflected this fact.  Now Carter has realized that he is empowered to improve his grades on his own.  He comes in for additional help during tutorial, has been more active in classroom participation, and has even set a personal goal to complete all lab activities, a far cry from his demeanor at the start of the year.  I hope that by encouraging him, while also providing explicit boundaries and expectation, I can continue to see improvement in Carter's motivation and academic measures.

Mike