What Makes Someone a Great Educator?

One of the most common myths I believe persists in education is the idea that the more content knowledge you have, the better teacher you’ll be. 

While this can certainly be an important factor for education, it’s not enough to be considered ‘great’. In fact, I would go so far as to say you won’t even be just a good teacher.

Everyone reading this remembers their experience at school. A common theme of good teachers was not their ability to stand in front of a class and lecture students.

See, for me, lecturing content is the bare minimum, and is the easiest/laziest form of teaching.

A really great educator understands that everyone is unique and diverse, who strives to individualise their approach to each student they work with. But it doesn’t stop there. They actively encourage and mentor the curiosities and creativeness of students to bring out the most potential of everyone.

Upon hearing this, many people will exclaim that this is too hard to teach to potential staff to maintain consistency.

Hear’s the truth…they’re right.

This form of education is much harder because it forces us to treat students like humans, not learning robots. It’s not pretty and it isn’t easy – but the question wasn’t ‘what makes an OK teacher?’

The truth is, not everyone is cut out to be a great educator. It’s the difference between simply doing the job vs. believing in the importance of your job.