Bryan asked, "In your educational experience, what to you makes the best teachers?"
The best teachers, in my experience, share a few traits, which, for convenience, I shall list.
Good teachers are:
1) Knowledgeable on the subject they teach.
2) Visibly enjoy the subject matter they teach.
3) Can present it in a way that is accessible to all, or almost all, of their students.
4) Take an active, genuine interest in their students, both in terms of their understanding of the material and, to an extent, their personal well-being.
Part of this, of course, has to do with education. Part of it may come from training. Element one clearly points to this. Element two is a related point. If the teacher doesn't like the subject, it will be difficult for the teacher to make the students interested in it.
The third element comes to what I shall describe as the art of teaching. It is the ability to creatively present material in ways that are engaging, memorable, and meaningful. This may well be something that can be taught, to a certain extent. Though it takes practice and creativity to properly implement.
The fourth element is where things get murkiest. I do not have a firm definition for where this should be delineated. Therefore I shall, I think, bring my question for this post: To what extent should teachers take interest in their students' well-being? Where are the lines between appropriate student/teacher interaction and inappropriate interaction?
