I'll admit, I'm a little bit of a Times and Seasons addict. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that a few times before. This morning I read this post, A Primary Primer, and thought it might be interesting to those of you who teach Primary...or anything...whether you're Mormon or not. Teaching is one of my favorite things to do, but I'm still learning how to do it. I love hearing about other people's techniques, challenges, successes, philosophies, etc.
What do you think makes a good teacher? Of children, youth, adults. Whatever. Any topic. Specific hints, general theories. Inquiring minds want to know.
If you can't think of anything, try this: who are your favorite teachers? What makes them so great? What did you learn from them? How did their example affect your own style of teaching?
I have more than one favorite teacher for different reasons, and I'll say right off the bat that my parents, Harry and Babs, are tied for #1 best ever, for a million reasons, not the least of which are that they love each other and their kids, they take me seriously, and they serve everyone.
Some random ones though: I loved my AP history teacher in high school, Joe Coccaro, because although he wasn't all that "hip" or whatever, he seemed to know everything, and he got excited about stuff. Teddy Roosevelt, for instance. Also, he wore lots of cardigans. Also, he died last year, and I have never stopped being sorry that I didn't send him a card when I knew he had cancer. But this is reminding me that I want to send his wife a card...Barb, can you e-mail me their address, if you know it?
I had a few favorite professors in college, but one was Keith Lawrence. He's the one I talked about a few posts back who taught about womanism. When we came to the last chapter of The House of Mirth, he asked if someone would read aloud for him because he said he always got emotional at that part. Then he cried anyway. He also cried when he showed us a video of Maya Angelou reciting her poem about a man whose smile is his mask (anyone know the name of that poem? I can't find it online). I always described him to Matt as having "a kind face." He knew everybody's name, wore a Hawaiian shirt every Friday, and instead of giving tests, had us turn in a short paper each week about our readings. I actually did the readings and came out of his classes with new favorite books (The House of Mirth, The Strangeness of Beauty, Like Water for Chocolate, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Mama Day, to name a few).
At church, growing up, one of my favorite teachers was Ken Zerbel, even though I got kicked out of his class more than once for talking, because I knew that he liked me and thought I was a cool kid (or at least he was good at faking it!). His wife, Joan, was also one of my favorite teachers. She's just so fabulously honest, and I remember she brought us all presents when she went on trips. I also loved my seminary teachers, Jan Holmes and Sue Cornwall, because they were so no-nonsense and friendly, and I completely credit seminary with launching my interest in the scriptures as an adult.
In my student wards at BYU, the best Sunday School teachers were the ones who showed PowerPoints or clips from movies or had games. I'm thinking maybe the "extra stuff" wasn't what made them the best, but the fact that they prepared and really cared about whatever they were teaching. They also tended to involve the class more than other teachers.
I could go on about this forever! So I'll stop now, until the mood strikes again.
14 comments:
I'd have to do another post myself to go through all my favorite teachers, but the first one that comes to mind when anyone talks about teachers or writing is Mr. Kaufman. And I regret never going back to the high school and telling him that everyday of my life since high school, I use something that he taught me.
No fooling - he was thorough - the class was Advance Comp - and he never gave an A, so no one at GHHS ever had a 4.0. He said there were no A writers at school - but he was going to get them started on the journey.
I think I'm a pretty good writer (and he would cringe at me using words like "pretty good") and I give him all the credit!
We very critical - tore stuff apart that we wrote - but I sure learned how to take academic criticism. And I was driven to write something that he thought was good. Got a B from him and I've never been prouder of any grade.
I meant to say "he was very critical" not "we very critical" - boy he'd probaby have a field day with the shorthand nature of email and blogging!!
This post deserves a much longer comment - but I have to say WHAT? Mr Cocarro died and no one told me?
I am hurt.
Mr Cocarro rocked as a teacher. I used to keep a log of his outfit combo - Monday - pink cardigan, blue oxford, khaki pants, Tuesday - blue cardigan, white shirt, navy pants, etc., etc.
But I learned much more than how to track outfits, altough that is always handy. He taught like a college professor and I liked his style and his true love of the profession and of American History.
This is a good reason to keep the blog alive and well. If Mr. Cocarro had died when we had a blog, it would certainly have merited a post and more. There are lots of things we thing about sharing with others, but we just forget.
I assume you knew Mr. Janson had died also?
Eliza, I'd just like to say that I'm glad I'm not the only one reading Times and Seasons.
Side note, where did you get the Betsy-Tacy companion?
My 5th grade teacher was the greatest. Mr Montesero (SP?) I still love to read great childrens literature because of him.
The Betsy-Tacy Companion was a birthday present from Bonny. I'm not sure where she got it, but you can buy it online from Amazon and from the Betsy-Tacy Society.
I did have a blog when Mr. Coccaro and Mr. Jansson died, but I don't think I blogged about either. Interesting.
But I did talk about them.
I never went back and visited Mr. Jansson, which I also kinda felt bad about. I learned about grammar from him. (Yeah, I know, pathetic--senior year in H.S., finally figuring out grammar.) And he liked me, although I got kicked out of his class for talking too.
I don't think I know Mr. Coccaro died, either.
I loved Mr. Jansson... I was so sad when he died, I cried in my dorm room for a long time that day, haha. I also loved Frau C... she still writes me emails regularly!
My favorite college professors... Kerry Soper, Dennis Cutchins, Jeff Parkin. I was going to take Eng. 311 from K. Lawrence, but it conflicts with my schedule. Kinda sad about that.
Oh, and Mr. Ace. I was after Mr. C's time.
I loved Mr. Cocarro. His was the first class that I really studied for, and I did well. Imagine that!
I loved Sis. C and Sis. H. Both great. I got kicked out of Jansson's once with Kelly Shaw. It was fun to spend that hour with Mr. Johnson. He said the good kidfds should get kicked out more often so that he could get to know us. Sad that he died too.
I also loved Sister Call. She was the Primary Chorister. I still think of her when I hear certain primary songs. And we can't forget Polly. She was so patient with me. Even when I NEVER practiced.
Also a small shout out to Cutchins and Ed Cutler and Susan Easton Black.
Okay, I'm done now.
I can't believe I left out Polly. She was so great, and patient.
I was also a big fan of Dr. Cutchins--his class was always interesting. And even though I was late almost every single day when I took a summer class from him, he was still nice to me. And he always called me "Terrill."
And our finals were one-on-one presentations in his office. Did you have those? Geez, that made me nervous.
Also, Dr. Cutler is pretty funny as a lecturer.
Okay, while I'm remembering, I can't bear that I left Kent Brown off. I took a few religion classes from him--Pearl of Great Price and New Testament. I LOVED those classes. No tests, just short papers each week (can you tell I like that method?) and quizzes on the readings. I still have quotes from him that I wrote down as he said them in class. What a smart guy. And so nice. And tall, and old, with a penchant for light blue pinstriped suits when the weather got warm.
And like a year after my last class with him, I passed him in the library and he said, "Hi, Eliza." What the! I'm always impressed with profs who remember names.
Also, and I swear I'll stop here or there'll be no stopping at all, I'm a big fan of Jim Jacobs. He was the professor in charge of my study abroad program in Vienna. So fabulous. And the only professor I ever really got to know or who got to know me--probably because I took 3 classes from him at once, traveled with his family every other weekend, and ate dinner at his house! I became a much better writer having had his classes.
Did you ever figure out that Maya Angelou poem? I tried looking but couldn't find anything.
I did find it, in fact. Perhaps I shall make a post of it later today.
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