I am not a teacher, but I am a great student. Great because I have been lucky to get the best of teachers in all my schools. None of them can be compared with each other. But if I were to list out what is common to all of them …here are a few bullets. Apologies to all the teachers who do not like this post .. I am only listing the reasons that I found my good teachers did differently.
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10. They can explain to you in 100 different ways
They know their subject so well that they can frame logic on the go. They will always be ready with an explanation. And they will not stop explaining unless you say you have got it. This is only because they are very passionate about their subject and can relate their subject.
9. They will always tell relation between different subjects
The most frequent dialog best teachers use is ‘Your subjects are not discrete’ Try and correlate , they are all one. They will give you 1000 examples of this correlation and then we end up getting
Like maths teacher and music, mechanics and electrical, control systems and network theory
8. They can be late for the class, but if you are late .. you are LATE.
This is very typical. A student is supposed to be punctual …whatsoever. A teacher can be late for the class. He knows more than you and he can make sure he will complete his lessons in whatever time he is left with. Such teachers are very often close to their students. Because they usually have the same reasons for being late.
7. They will tell you about their teachers
Most of the students like their class because they have good story telling in this particular class. A great teacher is always grateful to his own teacher and will share the stories of the time when they learnt their subject. My teacher used to say …. Blah blah blah …and I will say the same thing to you.
6. They will never remember your name
You must have told your name to them a 100 times, but all they remember is your face. They will never show that they know your name even if they do. But they just might recollect your name from the hippocampus once you are out of the campus .. haha you only get to know that if you have good juniors.
5. They will never let you rate them; if they do .. you cannot give less than 5 on 5
If your school has follows grading system for teachers by the students…great teachers are going to be this system. They will never want their students to rate them. If they are compelled to follow the system …they will make sure that each and every student has given them not less than five on five.
4. Always concerned about the colour of their board
Another point, even if the best teacher needs to use the board less frequently , they want their board to be either pure black or pure white. Shades of yellow and green are a total no-no . And if by chance someone has left the board unclean before they enter in .. they will ask you question on that topic …so students if you want to save yourself from the quick quiz contest, clean the board before your teacher comes in.
3. They will complain about chalk
Good teacher always wants the best of the stationary…A bad chalk bothers them more than not having more than 5 students in a class. Their chalk should ideally be dustless!! And if it is making some sound while writing on the board , be sure you aren’t making any sound the same time …because the teachers immediate reaction would be use that noisy chalk like an missile and bring “class peace”. (The theory must be….noise kills noise)
2. They will sing to themselves while you are busy solving sums
Most of them are music lovers. They will give you sums to solve. While they will make a humming sound to the tunes of their favourite song. They just love their subjects and of course they have mastered it.
1. They will randomly come and stand behind you while you are trying to solve it in your class
And man!! If you go wrong .. you will have to hear another 10-min-long-self-development lecture. Every problem you solve will help you solve real life problem someday. So they will not only teach you to solve it .They will also make you aware of the right approach. “Mantras for life” as I call it. They will sensitise you as to why solving it now is important. ‘Two negatives make an affirmative’ is one that my teacher taught me and it helps me be diplomatic in many situations today.