Great Teachers

What is a great teacher? It is a question that seems to always bring out political ramifications mixed with research questions. But today I heard an interview of Richard Ognibene who is the teacher of the year for New York. His thoughts are so inspiring and his advice absolutely the best. If we had 3.3 million clones of Richard teaching in our schools, we would have the absolute best educational system in the world.

I urge you to listen to the podcast from The New Teacher Hotline – and pass on the link to anyone who needs to understand that we do have so many great teachers out there truly reaching their students. They can listen from the website or download from iTunes (which helps with the rankings). The New Teacher Hotline is a free resource that is designed to provide practical advice to new teachers and is sponsored by ABCTE.

Here are some thoughts for new teachers that Richard provides:

• Send a letter to each of your students explaining who you are and ask them to send a letter back– use those letters so you really get to know your students
• Provide a caring classroom – a great classroom is one where kids want to be there• Discipline starts before any problems happen in your classroom
• Set the rules and get their interest right from the start – find ways to compliment every student to their parents in the first weeks of schools
• Collaborate with other staff
• Understand that you don’t have 120 future scientists in your class but find a way to make science interesting to all 120

And his most important advice that all new teachers must know………. well for that you have to listen to the entire podcast.