<p>The other day I heard an expert made this statement on NPR(?) in an interview, and I was shocked. Then, thinking of the few good teachers I’ve got over the years, I don’t know what to think. Your thoughts?</p>
<p>I agree with it. But I also think the same idea applies to those at the top of other professions, especially those involving a “performance” component, like athletes, musicians, actors, artists. I think there is an innate talent required to logically and effectively convey information from one’s brain to a diverse group of other persons. (There will be the Gladwell 10,000 hours exceptions, of course.)</p>
<p>I agree. I just had this conversation with my D and her friend. They said they could tell which of their teachers really saw their careers as a “calling”. In general, they were the better teachers. OTOH, there were comments made about the older teachers and how “tired and grumpy” some of them are. It is a demanding career and if one thinks they can just go into it as a back up, they may be in for a surprise.</p>
<p>^^^This made me laugh. S1’s first grade teacher had a reputation for being “tired and grumpy” and many, many parents made of point of trying to keep their kids out of her class. But she was fabulous teacher, far and away the best teacher my son ever had – she made it her mission in life that every child who entered her classroom left her class room ready for second grade, even if it meant extra hours, extra work, a new approach, whatever, she was always up for the challenge. I cried when she retired just before S2 started first grade.</p>
<p>I have hired HS teachers with PhD’s who were brilliant one-on-one, but were a mess in front of a classroom–no communication skills, could not think on the fly or go off-script if necessary, nervous wrecks.</p>
<p>I have also hired teachers who were fabulous, but didn’t have total mastery of the content fresh out of college, but became masters of content as time went on because they could relate and gain the trust of teenagers, and had that ability to explain the same concept 8 different ways and come up with dozens of analogies, etc. to illustrate a point.</p>
<p>As with many things, it’s a mixture. I think some people are born to be great teachers and some maybe not. But even the ones who are born that way are seldom great teachers right out of the box. There’s a lot of craft to learn, and practice makes a huge difference. What’s more, if we had to rely on natural-born teachers to stock our classrooms, we had better get used to 200-1 classroom ratios, because there aren’t enough of them to go around. I believe there’s enough craft in teaching that people who aren’t naturals can learn to be effective, competent teachers. At least I hope that’s true!</p>
<p>There may be certain qualities that make you a good teacher - patience, empathy, ability to retain content, good articulation skills, the ability to be flexible and quick on your feet, interesting speaking style - that develop as you are young. That doesn’t mean that everyone with those skills can be a good teacher, or that teachers who lack these things can’t be amazing teachers. </p>
<p>If you are going to work with young people, you should like them. Not every teacher seems to like kids… </p>
<p>I don’t think you are a born teacher, but you could definitely have a leg up on the competition if you have some of the skills I posted about, above.</p>
<p>I am a college professor, and I was told from fourth grade on by everyone I knew that I could teach anything. </p>
<p>I love conversing with kids, have an encyclopedic memory, access my computer files (in my head) very easily, make connections between things easily and don’t take student behavior personally.</p>
<p>I had other grad students observing me during our teaching practicum.</p>
<p>I am a born teacher.</p>
<p>I am sure this sounds like nauseating bragging, and I’m sorry for that. But let me take a minute to say that I think I would be woefully inadequate at anything else. I am so lucky someone hired me to do this.</p>
<p>I hate offices. I hate dressing up. Having bosses upsets me. I don’t have the detachment for health care. I am creative and could do advertising but the values depress me. I was a social worker for a while but I got restless without the “academic” content in my life.</p>
<p>So I am really a born teacher, if only to corroborate the old saw, “Those who can’t do, teach.”</p>
<p>Teacher by nature and teacher by default. Mothering had enough overlap that I think I was suited to that too.</p>
<p>There is a lot of truth in a lot of what has been posted here. I just wish people that DON’T like and aren’t comfortable with people (especially the students they teach) found fields that are more mutually rewarding.</p>
<p>I know I could be a great teacher–have been informally most of my life–to my peers & sibs from grade school thru professional school, as a mom, on the bench, and now in public health. Many of us end up teaching in our chosen profession, even if we are not formally “teachers.”</p>
<p>Both spouse and I were teachers in the past, one was outstanding and the other not. One told the other “You can’t be a good teacher”, while one thinks the other doesn’t know much of the subject. Spouses speak the truth.</p>
<p>I’ve had over 100 teachers from grade school to grad school. The best teachers/professors are those who know the subject really well and can explain it in the simplest way, many ways (showing their true understanding), and make you enjoy learning more even in the face of challenges. I must say that it’s hard to run into teachers like that.</p>
<p>I think there is a great deal of truth to this, however I don’t think it is the ONLY truth. Teachers motivate, challenge, and inspire in different ways.</p>
<p>My son wrote a paper several years ago, in high school actually, regarding the benefits of integrating industry professionals into the classroom. The premise was in certain areas, having 1-2 year rotations of cutting edge industry professionals, coupled with a solid educator, would raise the quality of STEM education. Obviously every professional is not suited to this, however his high school experience has been exponentially enriched by professional mentors. His instructors saw the value in bringing in their expertise. Their employers were very supportive to give these individuals time off to participate. I would not say they were born teachers.</p>
<p>I agree with JHS. </p>
<p>I also believe that there are many things that are out of the teachers control that can make or break a career. From the Administration to parents, a teacher can only do so much when the culture around them is not supportive.</p>
<p>Doesn’t “born to be _<strong><em>” apply mainly to a glamorous career? As in “so many want to be _</em></strong> but only who’s born to be” make it? For a meager pay, long hours, little recognition teachers get, it seems immaterial whether they are born to teach or not. You are born to take up a profession of long hours at small pay and likely little appreciation by the society?</p>
<p>D1 is a born teacher. She taught English & Social Studies to inner city kids for the past three summers, and really has that “spark”. However, she will go down another career path to start with out of college. Not sure she will even end up teaching. She looked into it, but the “ed” classes for an education minor at her college would have taken up every spare extra credit away from her major, and kept her from double majoring in the content subjects she loves. </p>
<p>She had some education class training for her summer position, and while she gleaned a few good tips from it, she said it was 95% a waste of time. Our state has very rigorous requirements for education classes (even the recent federal money offered for reforming education wasn’t enough to defeat the schools offering these classes and the teacher’s unions on reducing this barrier, so our state did not get any Reach for the Top money because of that flaw in the state’s application).</p>
<p>As a society we really need to figure out how to lower the barriers to get people in AND out of teaching. We need to let the good ones with content skills and a knack for teaching IN, and get the ones who are poor performers OUT. This is one of the reasons we pay for a private school for our kids, because they have better control over this issue.</p>
<p>Exactly. Born to teach or not, many people will choose to do something else if they can given the uninviting environment of the profession. That I think is the real issue. Our beloved NPR however chooses to probe “Born to teach” instead of “Why talented teachers abandon their profession” I sometimes agree with republicans about funding the public radio. Save my soul.</p>
<p>It is a pity that the current system has so many built-in barriers that burn out good teachers or force them to work in conditions that make it so much more challenging that it could be. I know many teachers who are just looking for another area to switch to–they feel heavily over-regulated and pressured and it really interferes with them being able to reach the kids.</p>
<p>Hate to say it, but the teacher’s union is one of the biggest problems–it makes it very tough to help bad teachers or get rid of them or encourage them to go into fields which might be a better match for their skills.</p>
<p>In UK, people can get a teaching credential & BA in just 3 years, from just out of HS. In the US, there are often a lot of roadblocks to that, weeding out a lot of people who would make excellent teachers. It’s really tough for folks from industry to go to the classroom as well–they have so much to offer it’s really a shame.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I totally agree. It also makes it difficult for teachers to “move around” - sometimes a change of grade level or school is refreshing.</p>
<p>My D dropped out of the GT (gifted & talented program) at her school in 2nd grade. When the principal asked her why, she looked up at her with very sad eyes and said it was just too painful to be in a class where the teacher made the kids cry EVERY DAY! She said she stayed in the class as long as she could bear it because she knew the principal wanted her to “enjoy the benefits,” but she found it just too painful. The principal was thunderstruck, but it was verified by me and other faculty & parents & students she trusted. To the principal’s credit, she worked as hard as she could to counsel the teacher (who has real “issues” in handling more than one child at a time and honestly, I’m not sure even LIKES kids). That particular teacher was made the GT teacher because everyone figured it was fairer to more kids for a short while than one class for an entire day every day of the school year–some twisted logic. Also to the principal’s credit, she did get the teacher to transfer to another school so it was some one else’s problem and the kids at her school were no longer afflicted. Because of the union, that was as much as could be done.</p>
<p>This is a similar situation we had when we had an awful counselor at another elementary school. The union protected her, even tho she was awful and made everyone have to work much harder to carry her load. She was awful with kids and had absolutely NO rapport with anyone. She had a lot of rights & vacation & benefits & sick leave thanks to her union benefits & claimed disability benefits from “stress.”</p>
<p>Former classroom teacher. I don’t feel I was born to teach. I love information, and I do think I’m pretty good at explaining certain things to others. However, I am not the warm fuzzy type for little kids–or the fun, dramatic, inspirational type for older kids. I’m nice. I never make kids cry. But with me, you’re going to get info., not hugs. I’ve done private tutoring and I like working one-on-one with motivated students. But managing a large group of students takes certain people skills and management skills that, sad to say, don’t come naturally to me. I’ve seen some wonderful “natural born” teachers at work. Even though they weren’t the “smartest” or “most accurate” on the info., they were amazing to watch.
I’ve thought about teaching again, but I have mixed feelings about it.</p>
<p>I truly think there are those who are “natural” teachers. I worked in a technical profession for many years and noted a distinct difference between natural teachers, who could explain things well, and those who might be technical experts but who couldn’t make others understand.</p>
<p>D went to a progressive school for Pre-K through 8th grade. I’d say practically all of her teachers were natural teachers, but there were a few without enough subject matter knowledge to be effective.</p>
<p>I do think that the desire to teach, and to learn from others and from mistakes, could cause someone who is not a “born” teacher to be a good schoolteacher.</p>