by Bobby Coles

Created on: October 06, 2010   Last Updated: May 02, 2012

A good teacher is adept at challenging his or her students. Teaching involves much more than merely delivering the mandatory curriculum. Teaching is about getting a child to think for themselves, and to look at the world around them in a much more profound manner. Teaching involves challenging your students. A wise teacher does not allow their students to simply put forth the minimum effort requisite of passing. Good teachers know how to challenge students in order to get them to perform to the best of their ability.

Teachers do not know everything, but for the most part, they are more than willing to admit this, and go above and beyond in order to ascertain the answers that have eluded them. This is what a good teacher will instill in his or her charges, this relentless thirst for knowledge. Challenging students may seem cruel, and may earn the teacher a poor evaluation on Rate My Teacher websites, but the true goal of a teacher worth their salt is to not care about becoming a friend to all students, rather to motivate them to ask their own questions, and seek out answers on their own.

Learning how to challenge your students takes the teacher a little bit of time to get to know them, and find out what type of learner they are. With so many diverse learning styles in the classroom, a good teacher will make certain to incorporate all forms of differentiated learning into their lessons, so that every student is on an even keel.

A great method of challenging students is to divide them in a debate. Once they have chosen the side that they are adamant about, and feel confident arguing for, a good teacher will turn the tables on the students and have them argue for the opposite side of the debate. This is a fantastic method for getting students to see both sides of an issue, and to truly think about a topic of debate. Good teachers know that in order to challenge students, they must learn to see with open eyes, listen with open ears, think with an open mind, and accept with an open heart. By challenging students in this manner, the teacher will have given the students the opportunity to look at things from a different perspective, to see without blinders on.

Challenging students can also be done by not accepting their work as is, but motivating them to give a little more effort than normal. Good teachers can provide constructive criticism that will be taken to heart, and the students will actualy be encouraged to try and please the teacher. Every essay or assignment

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