Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Great Teachers: What do they all have in common?

Skill? Personality? Leadership? Knowledge? Experience? Patience? Creativity?

I have an idea. Let's build the perfect teacher. The perfect GIFTED teacher. What do we need?

Curiosity

Respect for each child, including believing they have a right to learn and grow. Open to new ideas and continually learning themselves.

they themselves are wicked smart (just coincidentally).

I think that they not only respect and care about the child's general well-being, but also care that the child is learning every day.

Humility. An identity as a learner. Willingness to triage up to a higher level and/or outsource teaching as the student surpasses the teacher. Open-mindedness and strong perspective taking.

It would be really interesting to hear from the kids for this one. I asked DS4 and his dream teacher would show Paw Patrol videos and have lot of recess (which I will translate as being fun and allowing developmentally appropriate movement). However, I think some of your older kids might actually have some very interesting insights,

As a parents of two kids 21 & 17 both who have had their challenges at school. The best teachers have been ones with a lot of experience & who have their own kids. My kids have had 1-2 gems over the years.

A good teacher:

Recognizes that all kids aren't alike, they learn at different paces, and with different styles. And they do their best to challenge every one of them.

Accepts that they can make mistakes.

Keeps on top of grading & returns assignments in a reasonable time.

Can effectively communicate with the students.

Knows the material well.

Enthusiastic and love the material they are teaching.

1. Possesses an infectious passion for the subjects that they teach
2. Ready to 'flex' their approach to fit each student
3. Recognizes that their job is to identify and nurture talent in addition to getting the class to pass the 'bar'
4. Expects high quality work
5. Makes learning fun
6. Understands that gifted kids don't always turn in great work
7. Understands the difference between inate intelligence and acheivement - able to motivate those with the former to display the latter

To my child, the above are the most important points that he expects from a gifted teacher. He has had many disillusionments in his 3 years in school where he has seen that his teacher has lesser subject knowledge than him and was uninterested in learning enough of the subject to answer his valid questions and has shut him down because his question did not fall inside the scope of their lesson plans. He even asks me why his teachers do not have access to google or wikipedia so that they can read out the answers to him even if they do not know the subject very well.

So, for a really bright and curious child, a teacher who is a "subject matter expert" and who is willing to spend time to find out answers when they do not know them is very important. I like schools where they hire specialists to teach core subjects.