Comments on: Can Anyone Teach?

By: teacherinchina

teacherinchina — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:02:27 +0000

Yes yes I can. I am teaching in China right nowand am enjoying it. (and my students too).

By: Last Longer In Bed

Last Longer In Bed — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 02:03:52 +0000

You are very correct. It takes experience and passion to teach well. Some people do it just to make a living and the do the students an injustice. Those that have the passion leave a positive impact on the student that lasts a lifetime.

By: DamonBarnhurst

DamonBarnhurst — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:06:25 +0000

I believe anyone can teach, but not everyone can teach all things well. No teacher knows everything. Just like everyone can learn, but some are better at being a more persistant and dedicated learner. Teaching is an art that requires constant work and dedication to be the best. To be great at anything requires dedication. I like that passion was mentioned. Passionate teachers are what inspires students, not the knowledge they have.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:01:54 +0000

KOICHI! Yes I think that everybody can't be good at teaching, lol.
But in the 9th grade I had a REALLY great teacher. I loved the way he taught, and the things he taught. He always kept thing interesting, and I learned A LOT. But, the thing was that I really sucked at his class, haha. It was amazing that he kept me so interested even when I was almost failing xD
Then, this year my science teacher, is a really bad teacher (I guess my opinion?? but… not really, lol) She throws us worksheets every class, and doesn't even bother to tell us where to look. She just tells us the answer? Even to tests. She goes over the test questions right before the test as a “review” Lol. But I'm making an A so there's no need to complain. But its not one of my favorite classes…
But I've always felt that teaching a language is EXTRA hard >_<”
My first Spanish teacher was REALLY confusing, my second Spanish teacher was REALLY good, and then my third Spanish teacher makes it fun. It takes a while to find a great teacher, lol. Anyways… yeaaaaaahhh!~~
I'm done saying random things ;D

By: Annie Cook

Annie Cook — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 11:55:30 +0000

My daughter thinks I should be a teacher in school because she sees only teachers at school and mum at home. But I am Montessorian trained, teacher and have not been working since I have to look after her. She can sense there is value in the way I guide her on her schoolwork.

A teacher needs to become the fascilitator between the environment and the student. One cannot think of the student as an empty vessel to be filled in with knowledge. This thought will lead one to become the expert who has no time to help the student in any way in his journey. Yet an expert opinion is always good to have because experts spend many years studying just one field of knowledge and pursue it till he finds solutions to problems. He in turn passes on the knowledge to teachers.

By: Gaveston

Gaveston — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:44:44 +0000

Hi Koichi!

I'd just like to highlight three of the things you said:

"My best teachers were good because they were passionate about teaching."
"They are just passionate about something, and through that passion, could do an amazing job sharing it with the world."
"Some greenhorn teachers will hit superstar teaching status, because they inspire others to learn."

I think it was the great Victorian educationalist (!) Matthew Arnold who said that the job of a teacher is not to teach, but to teach the pupils to teach themselves. Teaching isn't about passing on facts, teaching is about inspiration and motivation and pointing the way. You don't even have to be a teacher to do that: Probably anyone who's learnt a foreign language could give some very useful advice (not to mention inspiration and motivation) to someone who's just starting.

I suspect that interest and enthusiasm are infectious: If you're interested in what you're teaching (that text you're reading with the students), you'll probably find that your students will find it interesting too. If you don't even like the book you're using, how can you expect your students to?

One question comes to mind: What is teaching? If I've learnt one thing as a teacher, it's that teaching is a two-way thing. Sometimes I think I learn more from my students than they learn from me! Nobody likes being talked down to, most people have something to say and enjoy being listened to. Perhaps that's the quality a teacher needs: The ability to listen, the willingness to learn.

Not everybody is willing to listen: Not everybody can be a teacher!

By: KirstenWinkler

KirstenWinkler — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:23:41 +0000

I am working on a post with this topic for my own blog for quite a while now.
I think it depends on your definition of teaching. Yes, anyone who can read can “repeat” what is written in a school book. But is this really teaching?

It's like Formula 1 (or Nascar for you in the US). Everybody can make a driver's licence but only a selected and naturally talented group of people can handle a car (a class / a student) with 300 mph ;).

By: Miss_igirisu

Miss_igirisu — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:23:55 +0000

There are lots of untrained English teachers out in Japan who are living proof that with 2 days' practice, anyone can teach, but you are right in saying that some of those people cannot teach well. I worked with an ex-Nova man who was a good teacher generally, but as a TESOL-degree holding person, I could see things like how his language was far too complicated for the students, and his teaching technique was a little off.
Teaching can be done with no training but for it to be done well, teacher-training is a must, I think.

By: Gihan

Gihan — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:08:21 +0000

Not anyone can teach. Teaching is a talant from Allah. So who feels this talant in himself, he can teach and benefit others with it. Also who likes teaching can teaches better than who takes teaching as a proffesion only, because when he likes teaching, he'll be creative in it.

By: koichi

koichi — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:51:18 +0000

That's a really good point, and not something I thought about at all! Students that want to learn can definitely re-inspire a teacher… something like that deserves its own article, very smart!