Member-only story
The Myth Of Good Teachers And Bad Teachers
How schools’ and parents’ obsessions with pigeonholing teachers drove me away from teaching in a school
Some people believe that there are good teachers and bad teachers.
Their rationale goes a bit like this.
“Good teachers have a personality that students respond to well. They always teach well.”
“The bad teachers lose control of their classes, and most students in their class are not interested in what they teach. These teachers don’t like their students and the students don’t like them.”
Those categories are simplified versions of what goes on in classrooms and can deprive students of being taught well.
Reasons why this myth exists
It’s easy to put people into categories.
It makes it easier to describe them, talk about them, and draw conclusions about them. But when it comes to teaching it isn’t fair.
Some teachers work hard each day and try to build rapport with their classes.
But at the end of each class they haven’t managed to teach well. Students may misbehave, answer back, refuse to follow instructions or ignore the teacher. The teacher knows their…
