Good Teachers: are they Born or Made?
What came first: the chicken or the egg?
This is one of the most infamous questions in history and, like all great debates, still has the power to initiate heated discussions on whether the chicken was the first to lay the egg or whether the egg produced the first chick. Before you begin choosing sides and compiling your supportive arguments, I ask you this question instead:
Good Teachers: are they Born or Made?
Before you choose your side of the argument, let's consider both perspectives:
A teacher who is Born could be the child who grew up loving to learn - head in a book, hand raised in class and eager to share his/her ideas. This was a child who grew into a teenager who loved to help others. This teenager was often considered a natural leader with an infectious enthusiasm that instilled a sense of excitement and wonder among all those who were in his/her presence. Naturally, this teenager was told that he/she should become a teacher: a profession that was the obvious choice for such a naturally gifted leader.
A teacher who is Made could be the young adult who attended teacher's college or university to acquire the skills of an educator - head in a book, hand raised in class and eager to share his/her ideas. While these two type of teachers sound similar, this second young adult acquired the knowledge, skills and passion for teaching through lectures, practicums or placements and volunteer hours. This young adult was molded and shaped into a teacher based on lessons, methodologies and hand on experiences. This profession became the obvious choice for such a dedicated student.
So which teacher is the good teacher? The teacher who was born or made?
While I feel strong arguments can be made for both sides, I think that the teacher who is Born has always possessed the qualities of a good leader but should not rely on this alone as the basis of a lifelong teaching career. Instead, it is the teacher who is Made who has acquired these same qualities through experience, but has also adopted skills and methodologies that will continuously improve and redefine his/her teaching practice. Thus, the teacher who is Made will only get better - researching new strategies to redefine his/her pedagogy. Unless the Born teacher continues on the path towards positive self-development and improvement, he/she could become extinct.
What are your thoughts?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Leesa johnson on
-
Human knows by their work. There is no one in the world who is born with such qualities that he does not have to be learn. So practice makes a man perfect not birth.
http://www.selectmytutor.co.uk/subject-chemistry.html
-
Permalink Reply by ashmita singh on
-
Human thinking makes Good, but thinking comes from inside, From Your Environment where you are living
-
Permalink Reply by Joel Kahindi on
-
Do you mean the inborn attributes to a teacher?
-
-
I strongly advocate for the combination of the two cases for the teacher. To be an effective teacher, there is need for inborn passion, besides the pedagogical skills learnt in the teacher colleges. Therefore, a good teacher should balance all aspects mention above for his or her sustainability.
-
Permalink Reply by Leona Hinton on
-
What makes a good teacher? Great teachers follow their life calling. They care about students and show respect. Great teachers communicate with kids and their parents. Great teachers are great managers. No matter what came first, the chicken or the egg, they both exist and that's great.
-
Permalink Reply by Jayashree Iyer on
-
Good teachers are born and also they are made. The final point is their contribution to this educational sector and the welfare of students at large.
-
Permalink Reply by John on
-
When you ask "What was the fist: a chicken or an egg?" you should know that turtles appeared on the Earth before chickens. So the egg.
If seriously, I don't think there is an exact answer to this question. See, a person which was born with great teaching skills may also be lazy enough not to prove them. In this way, such teacher becomes a bad one. And vice versa: a person with no teaching skills but with a great desire to become a teacher will do everything to become a highly qualified teacher and he or she will be loved by students.
-
Permalink Reply by Amy on
-
I strongly agree that a teacher is made and not born! Others may argue that not everyone possesses the qualities of a good teacher therefore a teacher is born and not made. But the fact is; if a teacher is actually born and not made, education will not come to being. The word ‘learning’ wouldn’t even exist. Every teacher must have undergone socialization and the formal school system before being qualified a teacher. And all these processes are ‘making ‘. This means that one is being pulled out from ignorance to knowledge, nurtured and moulded to its full potential. But if you’re born teacher. it means you don’t even need to be educated because you already have an in born capacity which is false! Learning how to say; mummy, daddy from one-word stage, it means you’re being taught(made) you were not born with it. Therefore I stand to say that every good teacher is made! If you are educated and didn’t undergo any teacher training, in some cases, teaching will pose problem to you and managing the class rooms.
Report
Win at School
Commercial Policy
If you are representing a commercial entity, please see the specific guidelines on your participation.
Badge
Follow
Awards:
© 2024 Created by Steve Hargadon.
Powered by
