Characteristics of a Great Teacher

Best Answer, as Chosen by Yahoo Voters:
Respect, High Expectations and Humor

http://tinyurl.com/y9qj58s

I like this one:

A good teacher likes and respects students, and loves teaching.A good teacher understands learning styles, different learning and student needs, curriculum scope and sequence, and their subject matter very well.A good teacher can inspire students to want to learn.Maybe I worked in more than three, but they are connected.

Computers Replacing Teachers?

The “typical 2030 faculty will likely be a collection of adjuncts alone in their apartments, using recycled syllabuses and administering multiple-choice tests from afar.”

"Colleges, like newspapers, will be torn apart by new ways of sharing information enabled by the Internet"

"Students starting school this year may be part of the last generation for which “going to college” means packing up, getting a dorm room and listening to tenured professors. Undergraduate education is on the verge of a radical reordering. Colleges, like newspapers, will be torn apart by new ways of sharing information enabled by the Internet."

The Washington Post ran this story by Zephyr Teachout that examined a shift already underway. http://education.zdnet.com/?p=3078

Relax profs. It's not going to happen. While I see a blended use of the internet on the rise in traditional universities, we're still a brick and mortar industry. Lecture halls, dorm rooms, and libraries are not going anywhere. At least not in this century?

Teachers on Facebook - creepy or valuable tool?

Some students are recruiting professors for Facebook, prodding them to join and even creating fake profiles for them....

I use Facebook in class as a valuable learning tool about what NOT to have on a student page, as future employers may see it before hiring you!

Good article on the topic from a few years ago...

Professors find friends on facebook too

Some students are recruiting professors for Facebook, prodding them to join and even creating fake profiles for them.

http://media.www.redandblack.com/media/storage/paper871/news/2005/12/06/News/Professors.Find.Friends.On.Facebook.Too-2569914.shtml

Teacher has crazy idea

"I have a crazy idea": Those five words changed a simple meeting of school officials into the realization of Kim Ursetta's dream. ... "I want to start a new kind of school," she said, a union-sponsored public school led by teachers, not a principal.

She did it! www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/08/education.overview/index.html

Tweeting Teachers

From the Chronicle of Higher Education:

Professors Are Not Sold on Twitter's Usefulness
By Marc Beja

We’ve been told that college students aren't Twitter's primary audience – people under the age of 25 make up only a quarter of the service’s users. But are college professors driving up membership? Not really, a new survey from Faculty Focus shows.
According to results of a survey released this week of more than 1,900 higher-education professionals, more than half say they have never used Twitter, 30 percent use it, and nearly 13 percent tried it but decided to abandon it.

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Professors-Are-Not-Sold-on/7821/

I haven't used Twitter for class; however, I have seen effective use of Twitter by a professor teaching the value of social networking to Public Relations students in a School of Journalism. I'm honored to speak at their upcoming conference: http://www.grady.uga.edu/connect/

Best teachers are eager to inspire students

Some more inspiring quotes, this time from teacher-turned-journalist Bev Davis of the Register-Herald in West Virginia:

- “A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations.” — Patricia Neal

- “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” — William Arthur Ward

- “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.” — Socrates

Article: http://www.register-herald.com/features/local_story_233214746.html?keyword=topstory

Ron Clark's Message is Universal

Atlanta is lucky to have the Ron Clark Academy based here.

Clark's message needs to be internalized by K-12 teachers and college professors, as the new school year approaches:

"If we can't be innovative in our classrooms, how can we expect our students to be innovative in life?"

Recent interview: http://www.pnj.com/article/20090814/NEWS01/908140326

On the web: http://www.ronclarkacademy.com/

Amazonian Prices

I just looked on Amazon and discovered the following prices for my book listed by independent sellers:

$28.89
+ $3.99shipping
New

$30.73
+ $3.99shipping
New

$38.44
+ $3.99shipping
New

$30.73
+ $3.99shipping
Used - Very Good

Any takers?

The book retails for $12.95 - Amazon charges a modest $11.01 ($3.99 shipping) for the book http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934938246/sr=8-1/qid=1250276742/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1250276742&sr=8-1&seller=

Or purchase directly from the publisher for $10.36 ($3.23 shipping) - enter Promo Code "RUBBER: to receive this 20% off discount.

https://www.mybookorders.com/order/default.aspx?siteid=214

Educator Starts 59th Year Of Teaching

This guy REALLY must like Math. 59 years!

"As long as I feel good, I have nothing else that I aspire to do except to be with young people and teach," said Sylvester Franklin.

Mr. Franklin has only missed two days of classes in that entire time.

http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=10893401

Inspiring Quotes for Teachers

To start off the new semester, here are some great quotes to pump up teachers:

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement, nothing can be done without hope and confidence." -- Helen Keller

"Once children learn how to learn, nothing is going to narrow their mind. The essence of teaching is to make learning contagious, to have one idea spark another." -- Marva Collins

"They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel." - Carol Buchner

"Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants." -- John Gardner

Bluto (Animal House): "Seven years of college down the drain."

Thornton Melon (Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School): "Good teacher. He really seems to care. About what I have no idea."