Bringing Out the Best in Students

How Legendary Teachers Motivate Kids

David Scheidecker, William Freeman

• Publisher: Skyhorse
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781634503143
• eBook ISBN: 9781510700864
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Teaching Methods

You're already a good teacher. But you want more—for them and for yourself. You want to be the teacher your students remember, the one who makes real, positive differences in their lives. You want to become a legendary teacher.
This book outlines the characteristics of legendary teachers. It shows you how to recognize and acknowledge those traits in your colleagues, ]
then cultivate them in yourself. Find out how you can:
• Convey your high expectations for your students
• Practice skillful communication
• Develop a well-organized, well-run classroom
• Motivate students to excellence
Becoming a legendary teacher is a worthwhile goal. Expect as much from yourself as you do from your students. Be the good example that enables your students to do their best. Develop the skills to ensure that students want to come to school, want to learn, and want to succeed in your classroom.

1

PIECING TOGETHER THE PERSONALITY PUZZLE

The chicken-and-egg dilemma has its parallel in education. It is the question of whether good teachers are born or if they are made: the nature versus nurture question. Our answer to that controversy is, fittingly, an enigma itself. Generally speaking, we believe good teachers are born, but more important, we believe it’s better for everyone involved if we were to believe that they could be made. Interestingly, this book is predicated on a rejection of the question. The question is rather moot. What is relevant is the belief that there are traits, even personality character traits, that anyone can improve on to enhance his or her effectiveness as a master teacher, as a legend.

Personality is generally defined as the set of an individual’s distinguishing character traits, attitudes, and habits. Looking more deeply into the definition, one can clearly see that personality is the single most significant feature that distinguishes one individual from another individual or, in the setting of the school, one teacher’s success from another’s. There are certainly as many types of personalities as there are teachers in any given school system, and just as obviously, there is no single, specific type of teacher personality or trait that could be classified as preferable in all situations all the time. But there are instructors, legends in education, who seem to have the personalities most able to make a difference in the lives of children on a daily basis.

Before getting into the personality components of a legend, one must first be ready to master the interpersonal skills that will allow him or her to open all the possible venues for educational excellence. In this first chapter, we focus on the three parts of the definition that clearly distinguish the legend’s personality from that of his or her less successful peers: character traits, strong attitudes, and good habits.

A COMMON SCENARIO

Reality Sets In

The hands on the face of the clock in the classroom seem to be stuck; a persistent fear drifts in and out of the young teacher’s mind, “What am I doing here? Why did I become a teacher?” As she looks at the pile of papers she will have to tackle at home that evening, after she has supervised a home basketball game, after she’s fixed supper for her family, and after she’s helped her husband do the dishes, she begins to understand why her all-knowing parents responded with a quizzical “Teacher?” when she told them what career path she had decided to follow. Just about the time she has absolutely had it with the negative attitude of two especially aggravating students in her fourth-period class, the bell rings, saving both her and the students from what could only be a mutually destructive confrontation. Now at least she has lunch, a 30-minute duty-free time slot, her only respite from the intellectual wrestling others call “teaching.”

The Shock

As she enters the cafeteria, the teacher is overwhelmed by a sea of children, each of whom is either screaming at someone or pushing someone else (and for the overachievers—both). The noise is deafening; she accelerates her pace so that she can get quickly through the cafeteria line and gulp down her Tylenol-laced lunch in the teacher’s lounge, in hopes of quelling the acidic buildup of her stomach and the throbbing veins of her forehead.

As she battles her way into the lunch line, the teacher is taken aback by the sight of two renegades from her last class standing in line engaging in polite conversation with another teacher—and no, he’s not a coach! As she pauses to take in this image (which suddenly seems to have theological implications), her feelings move from wonder

—“How does he do that?”

to awe

—“Look, they’re smiling!”

to anger

—“Why don’t they treat me that way?”

and finally to suspicion

—“Who is this guy and what did he do?”

An Epiphany of Sorts

As the conversation continues, despite her resentment, the teacher can’t help but be aware of the positive interaction that is occurring, and unwillingly (and perhaps even unconsciously) she begins to wonder how any teacher could ever have a relationship with those two students. Turning away from the conversation, she enters the lunch line, gets her food, and heads toward the faculty lounge with a pair of queries riddling her mind: “What kind of meat is this really?” and, most important, “What do those two students see in that teacher that I don’t have?”

The answer is probably not a better pedagogy; the answer is probably not a more interesting curriculum; the answer is probably not a more modern technology; the answer is probably not that the teacher she witnessed is a “pushover” in the classroom. Instead, the answer (and this is not necessarily a terrible thing for her to come to grips with) is personality. For our discussion, we have chosen to break down the larger concept of personality into four areas:

A disclaimer

Identifying desirable character traits

Promoting strong attitudes

Developing good habits

A DISCLAIMER

Admittedly, this is not a very impressive way to start a book on education, but as we moved this chapter from our brains on to the page, the scenario troubled us greatly because the first few drafts sounded as though they were presenting a panacea to education, and although we don’t believe in panaceas, we do believe in education.

What bothered us as we considered personality was the adage that opposites attract. If that’s true, and there are a zillion types of personalities (which is, incidentally, about as close to mathematical analysis as we get in this work), then the sad truth is that no one teacher’s personality could ever appeal to every type of student. Follow this logic:

It must be assumed that each student brings to class a very different personality of his or her own and very distinct set of needs.

It also must be assumed that every teacher can fill those needs to some degree.

It is, however, impossible for any single teacher to present a personality that will be attractive to all students.

But while admitting that no individual teacher can have a personality that is naturally attractive to all students, one must recognize that every teacher can make certain that his or her personality does not include any traits that would preclude learning for any students. Although not everyone will become a teacher’s friend, it is safe to assume that none need become the teacher’s enemy. That simple observation is why we chose to begin this book with a discussion of personality: The teacher’s personality is the single most significant trait in promoting educational success. The teacher is more important to the education of his or her students than pedagogy, technology, curriculum, facilities, and textbooks.

How does one’s personality become the key to opening the door to touching the lives of students? We return to the question of whether legends are born or made; as we suggested earlier, it is in the best interest of education to operate under the assumption that they are not born—that it is possible for every teacher to nurture personality traits that will help him or her establish an environment more conducive for learning for all students. This then is our next task—an examination of aspects of a teacher’s personality that are most conducive to student success.

IDENTIFYING DESIRABLE CHARACTER TRAITS

Almost every adult in America can identify a special or favorite teacher who had a tremendously positive effect on his or her life. Each of us looks back to that one teacher who motivated us, cared for us, taught us, and helped us to grow more than the others. When asked to identify a few phrases that best describe their favorite teacher, most adults’ lists include the following:

Informed

Creative

Compassionate

Understanding

Interesting

Patient

Honest

Even tempered

Encouraging

Funny

Fair

Happy

Motivated

Different

Intense

Exciting

Positive

Challenging

Dedicated

Friendly

Nonthreatening

Caring

We al...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• About the Authors
• fm01
• 1. Piecing Together the Personality Puzzle
• 2. Nothing Succeeds Like Success
• 3. Establishing High Expectations
• 4. Practicing Skillful Communication
• 5. From Chaos to Organization
• 6. Recognizing and Promoting Excellence
• 7. Motivating High Student Achievement
• 8. Developing Powerful Classroom Management Skills
• 9. Becoming a Legend