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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > April > 27 > Entry
Becoming the nation’s best teacher
Earlier this week, Kimberly Oliver was named the national teacher of the year.
I was intrigued by the choice of Oliver for a couple of reasons. First, she is only 29 and big teaching awards generally go to more veteran teachers with long track records of success. And second, she teaches kindergarten, an important job but an assignment often undervalued in the education establishment.
When I read a couple of short news items about Oliver, she sounded like a great person. She was inspired to become a teacher before she even started school — by her day care teacher. And she intentionally chose to teach in a school with a high percentage of low income students because she just felt called to help those kids who needed her skills the most.
But in the back of my head, I heard the voice of my friend and fellow education blogger Jenny D asking this question: “What about her teaching practice? What is it that makes Oliver an elite teacher and what can other teachers learn from her?”
I think maybe those answers are not very easily explained.
Jenny D is a former journalist who is closing in on a doctorate in education from one of the best education schools in the country and her research is centered around teaching practice.
She offers a lot of constructive criticism for education journalists in her blog posts. One of Jenny’s biggest gripes with education reporting is that journalists don’t go far enough to explain to people what is going on in the classroom — what are kids learning, are their teachers effective and what does good teaching look like?
So I thought about those questions as I read the stories about Oliver.
Probably the two best stories about her I could find were in Washington Post and in USA Today.
The USA Today story is written by Greg Toppo, one of the very best education reporters in the country and he was able to scratch the surface of Oliver’s teaching success. Toppo tells us Oliver changes activities every 15 minutes in her class so her young charges won’t get bored and invites parents in on “Books and Supper” nights. Other stories said she had great patience, was a good listener and put nervous kids at ease.
The fact is, it’s sometimes hard to explain what makes a great teacher, and the younger their students are, the tougher it is to point to concrete examples of their teaching practice.
Years ago, when I worked at a different paper, I covered a unique annual event sponsored by a service organization. Each year, the group invited all the county’s valedictorians to dinner and asked them to bring along their favorite teachers.
Most often, the kids brought high school teachers — the math teacher that helped them understand calculus, the English teacher who inspired their love for F. Scott Fitzgerald or maybe a drama teacher who cast them as the lead in the school play.
One year I sat down next to a young man and his favorite teacher — a kindly woman who I guessed was nearing retirement age. The boy introduced her as his kindergarten teacher. I asked why of all the teachers in his school career he picked her, the woman who taught him the simple things, over those who helped this top student master the more complicated concepts later on. What was it that made this woman such an important teacher in his life?
He thought for a moment.
“It was a million little things,” I remember he told me. “But most of all, she just made me feel safe. I was really shy and scared on my first day in school. But after a year with her I loved school.”
Do you remember your kindergarten teacher? I’d love to hear what you sticks in your mind about them.
Update: By chance I found this story about another great kindergarten teacher at The Education Wonks blog just a few minutes after I finished this post. It’s worth reading about how rookie kindergarten teacher Kayla Brown recognized a need among her kids and filled that need with a creative solution.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Teaching and Learning
Comments
By Oldprof
April 28, 2006 12:03 AM | Link to this
We may be having an unexpected love-fest here but I also agree. Note that one of the more valid responses to “schools can’t even fire bad teachers” is “there are no clear standards for what makes a teacher good or bad.” Of course, teachers who are entirely ineffective are easily identified by a competent observer (like the dean I currently work for), but too few administrators are as competent. One other point: all other things being equal, we need to have the best teachers in the earliest grades—a solid foundation will support all sorts of superstuctures, but a flawed foundation supports nothing.By Mary
April 27, 2006 3:07 PM | Link to this
I agree with Meg. However, the best teacher for one student might not be the best teacher for other students. Personalities, interests, and abilities of teachers and students come into play. A teacher passionate about learning and the classroom will generally be respected by students and parents.By Mary
April 27, 2006 3:02 PM | Link to this
I agree with Meg. I also think the best teacher for one student might not be the best teacher for another student. Personalities of students and teachers come into play. However, I think students and parents respect very much a teacher dedicated to a quality experience in the classroom and a teacher very passionate about learning.By Meg
April 27, 2006 12:46 PM | Link to this
In my opinion, there is no 100% accurate way of showing evidence that someone is a great teacher. I don’t feel it can be based solely on student’s opinion, however I feel that they are some of the best critics. There are a lot of qualities that make teachers good such as caring for students, making them want to learn, challenging them on a daily basis. It is impossible to judge who does it the best, because this is a matter of opinion. I believe that the teacher from Maryland is deserving of the award, but no one can say that she is the only teacher in America that is.