by JCSprenger

Created on: August 22, 2009

What Makes a Really Good Teacher

There is a common belief among people not involved in public and private education that a teacher's main function is to teach reading, writing, maths and sciences, both hard and social. While the academic knowledge is certainly important, there is another crucial aspect of teaching in the classroom that takes precedence: Nurturing hope and confidence in students.

How can a teacher teach hope, you will ask? The answer lies in the depths of children's psyche, as attested by the famous 'Ego Psychologist' Erikson. In his theory of personality, Erikson suggests that the first stage of infancy creates hope which in turn is developed through trust in the person taking care of us. Such hope however may be shattered during the initial school years if the teacher doesn't create a learning experience based on the positive. I still vividly remember my third year teacher, an unmarried woman, who apparently had decided that all men were evil and who took every opportunity to ridicule the male students in her class. The experience destroyed what little faith I had in my own abilities - I was 9 years old after all - and it took me several years with caring teachers to recover.

With hope comes confidence in oneself, for a child cannot develop self-esteem if the environment is bereft of hope; hope is a fertile soil that requires constant care in order to grow other positive emotions. If I do not trust my mentors, including my parents, it will be extremely difficult in later years to develop into a mature and wise adult. Erikson uses the word 'competence' when studying the development of the personality between the ages of 6 and puberty. The child is able to compare his/her own competence against his/her peers in the classroom. The famed psychologist emphasizes the role of the teacher in making certain that his/her students don't develop a sense of inferiority; this makes elementary (grammar) school the most important stage in education. Again, hope, self-confidence and competence go hand in hand in creating a high degree of self-esteem without arrogance or sense of superiority.

If we are able to create and maintain such a stable ego in our elementary students, their subsequent experience in middle - and high school will almost certainly be positive. Unfortunately, as a high school teacher myself, I see too many cases of teens who have lost hope and confidence in their own abilities. Teenagers have a very difficult task, as

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