Characteristics of an Effective Educator

With eight years of experience as a high school teacher, tutor, mentor, substitute and curriculum designer, I believe that the two most important skills of an effective educator are curiosity/passion for learning and modeling to student how to be a present and attentive listener.

Lately, the insistence upon standardized testing as the benchmark for efficacy in education has misled us to believe that teacher as expert (i.e. sage on the stage) or teacher as differentiation specialist are the essential skills and contributions of a teacher. I contend that both of those skills are secondary to the effective and empowering teacher who prioritizes conveying to students that they themselves are not an expert, but instead a student of life and constantly curious, passionate and learning right alongside students. Engaging students' capacities for curiosity is one of the greatest, life-long skills a master teacher can cultivate in their students. A teacher will encounter so few students in their careers who both: 1) learn like they do and; 2) are passionate about the exact same stuff. It is therefore, so much more important for teachers to make space for students to explore their passions through agency and discovery.

The dynamic of 'teacher as expert' is so prone to creating drones and disciples. A master teacher should instead pursue challenging conversations and respectful disagreements with students. Teachers have the onus of cultivating critical thinkers and leaders for the next generation.

The perfect complement to curiosity - that a master teacher possesses - is being able to model to students what it means to be an attentive, patient and present listener. The rest of our lives move at a mile a minute pace; a classroom teacher has the luxury of time and space to be present and teach a room full of young people how to slow down, be contemplative, and wrestle with complex ideas. This can include the increasingly requisite skill in our harried lives to cultivate persistence and stamina for embracing the ennui that all of us face. A master teacher can cultivate a space where it is encouraged to experiment and safe to fail AND LEARN.

Both of these are essential characteristics that an effective educator must cultivate from day one. Developing expert content knowledge and myriad strategies for student demonstration of content mastery should come secondarily and will grow throughout a teacher's career.