Global Learning Portal Guest

There are many factors that appear to contribute to students’ success in the classroom including physical conditions, curricula, and students’ socio-economic background. Recently, increasing attention has been paid to the teacher and the critical role s/he plays in inspiring and leading students and whose impact can appear to be relatively more important than other factors.

Michelle Obama published on this topic last fall, and large and small organizations (including the US Department of Education Teacher Incentive Fund and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) are studying and supporting ways to improve classroom teacher preparation and effectiveness.

The key questions seem to be:

• What makes a great teacher?
• How much of being a good teacher is innate talent (like a gift for music) and how much of it can be learned?
• What is the best way to identify and cultivate those factors for success? Is the current teacher education system preparing teachers for success?
• If there are secret ingredients for success, what is best way to share that knowledge among current and prospective teachers?

There is a lot of research into and discussion of this topic including this article in Sunday's New York Times magazine and a recent article in The Atlantic.