There are lots of things that make a teacher good. Patience is one of them, and understanding learning styles and being tolerant and encouraging of the strengths of those styles are other factors. Humility and remembering one's own struggles to grasp subject matter that challenges are other important qualities. There are many other important qualities that I've not mentioned.
Communication is one of the biggest factors. It's pretty hard for students to learn and be inspired if the instructor aren't communicating on their level or expects them to grasp what is being said the first time around. Sometimes a teacher has to find other ways to say the same thing, so that the student can have that light bulb moment and move forward. Samples have a great place in learning. For me, I think it's OK if there are errors in my samples, as long as I see the mistake and understand the mistake and learn from it. that's kind of the point of a sample, in some ways. I love it when I'm working with a novice and we're looking at what they've done, and seeing where they're up to, and they can see a mistake they've made and understand what happened. That's part of the learning process. We don't learn from perfection, we learn from our mistakes (hopefully :-) ). Giving a student (or contest/fair entrant) feedback is a skill. Making sure they have something useful and encouraging is important. When I was doing Standardized Patient work for the University of Colorado's Med School, I spent a half day learning how to give feedback and evaluate students. It has been such a useful class, and I've been able to use those skills when Judging at the State Fair and working with beginning lacemakers. CU had their requirements, but the principles are excellent. Give a positive comment about something (eg: I liked how you knocked on the door when you entered - it was firm, and polite). Give a constructive comment on something that can be worked on (for eg: If you could knock on the door before you entered, it's a polite way to enter and start the consultation). Give a final positive comment (eg: I really appreciated how you listened and showed empathy to me). Do not join the 3 comments with and, but, however, etc. Keep it as 3 separate sentences, and if you can't think of a final nice thing to say, you can reword the first comment. I've been fortunate to have had classes with teachers who I've had good experiences with, but I've also met people who are struggling to overcome a hurdle set up by a teacher they didn't 'click' with, and I feel for those people, as it can mean that they may miss out on some wonderful classes that they may have enjoyed and gotten a lot out of. Cheers, Helen, Duvall, WA - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003
