Great Teachers

The great teachers of ancient Greece Socrates, Plato and Aristotle are foundation stones for all teachers who came after them. Roger Ascham was tutor to Elizabeth I and a notable scholar whose prose style was emulated for centuries. Einstein, Descartes, Kant, Ayn Rand, Stephen Hawkings.

What are qualities of great teachers? Caring, enthusiasm, love of learning and love of teaching are some of the qualities that make a good teacher. Engaging the students’ interest and challenging them every day, that makes for a great teacher.

Did I have a great teacher during my education? No I am afraid I didn’t though I had some good teachers. Mrs. Miller could strike terror into our hearts in Grade 3 but she also managed to knock information into the roughest head but my recollection of her does not include caring or enthusiasm. Mrs. Beattie was a caring teacher and was, indeed, my favourite teacher. She allowed us to go to the back of the classroom to get a book to read on our own whenever we finished our current tasks. After lunch she often read to us and when I think back on it now she must have loved literature herself because she chose some terrific books. I remember her reading us The Incredible Journey and she made it thrilling long before the movie came out. My next teacher was Miss Bailey, an elderly woman who taught quite a bit of religion to us. Every Friday we had a religious hour where we learned bible stories. I don’t recall them being particularly sermon like or instructive and I actually enjoyed learning about the different characters from the bible. That was grade 5. In grade 6 I got a man teacher whose name was Mr. Axon. He was a nice teacher and had great control of the class. He could be fun as I recall but he also could be a bit of a jerk. He’s the one that called me George because Mom sent me to school wearing pants.

I never had a truly inspiring teacher but my parents always said that my brother John and I had good teachers who were experienced which my other siblings didn’t have the good fortune to get. I think today the University of Lethbridge turns out some really great student teachers and I hope they all get the good luck to land in permanent positions when they graduate. I think it is a crying shame that our government doesn’t invest enough funding in education to give our children the best possible chance in life. We ought to be creating leaders, thinkers and remarkable doers for our future.

What else really matters?