What Makes a Good Teacher; A Students View

When talking about jobs in teaching, it can be hard to understand what actually makes a good teacher when it feels like, as a teacher,  you are constantly doing everything wrong. Well, here is what makes a good teacher, from a Sandringham School sixth form student who has spent their entire life surrounded by what I think are both good and bad teachers. Often, it’s the things you wouldn’t think to do, or the things that seem so insignificant, that can actually make a world of difference. This blog aims to help you understand the things you’ve potentially been doing that could affect how we act in your lessons. 

Good and Bad Teachers

Good

Let’s start with more positive things that teachers can do

A lot of the time, school can be very stressful for students, especially as students get further through school, so the little things can really help us make our journey easier

• Supporting even outside the lesson
• Lessons are interactive
• Making sure that lessons feel more like a conversation where everyone feels comfortable speaking
• Not treating students as
• Making sure students do not feel too overloaded

Making sure that we see teachers as people that we are not afraid to go to. This is something I think more people in teaching jobs should focus on.

Bad

There are a lot of misconceptions about common things that many students believe you might do that actually aren’t as effective as you’d think.

• Immediately looking to shout and harshly punishing us if we did something you don’t agree with
• When we come for help, immediately tell us all the things we’ve done wrong, and do not give us any solutions
• Making lessons something we have to passively watch

We’ll act differently based on the way you treat us. As a teacher, you’re constantly looking down on us and finding ways to assert authority, then many of us will find ways to try taking that away.

Things That Teachers Might Not Know?

You might not realise that the way you speak to us can affect our focus, It can seem weird to talk to us like you’d talk to your co-workers as this isn’t what you’re taught when you start in teaching jobs but often that’s the most effective way to get students full focus, and that is what good teachers do.

Silent Does Not Mean Productive

Another thing you might not know is that silent lessons are not as effective as many think. Often, we end up just daydreaming or just sitting there, but still not doing our work. So even though we are not talking, we’re not necessarily dedicated to our work. This also means when we’re allowed to talk, it gets out of control and too loud, with conversations about things that have nothing to do with the lesson. A good teacher makes the lessons feel more conversational. Which means we’ll feel freer to talk throughout but in a quieter and more controllable way, with conversations that remain on the subject. 

This doesn’t mean that you can’t ensure that people are staying focused, but just that silence doesn’t equal focus.

This blog has explored multiple ways in which a teacher is good from students’ point of view

Above all, to be a good teacher in a teaching job, communication is important to improve behaviour, small things can matter, silence does not equal learning, and a lot of us will respond to how we are treated.

Having a structured lesson plan makes a big difference in how a student reacts to learning, and it’s almost as important as the teaching itself. That’s why courses such as ‘Modelling in the Classroom’ make such a big difference in giving teachers an idea of the best ways to deliver content to their classes.