Let’s face it, teachers, no matter how educated they are, come in various varieties and abilities. Some teach well but don’t seem to connect with students. Others connect with students, but fail to teach well. Most fall in somewhere in between the continuum. So how do we define a great teacher, and how do great teacher makes a difference in a student’s life?

            No teacher will reach in every student no matter how good they are. Sometimes things just don’t click on a learning level or even a social level. Fortunately, almost everyone has at least one teacher they can point to and say, “This teacher made a difference in life.”

            According to Wolverton (2012), a teacher has great possibilities to inspire a student to not only to achieve but, more importantly, to dream of the many possibilities in that student’s future. Many can reflect on educational experiences and think of a teacher that truly made a difference in their lives. That may have been a teacher who supported learning at a challenging time, a teacher who inspired or maybe a teacher who instilled a hope of a possibility never considered.

            Teachers same to student’s life at a different times and made a difference in different ways. They went out on their way above and beyond the call of duty, to help someone who needed help. This is what all great teachers have in common; they truly care and put that little extra in when they see a student who needs it. They may not be able to touch every student, but they put themselves out there so that when the time comes, they are ready. They don’t do it on purpose, it’s just part of who they are. They love, they care, they give, they are available, they go beyond mere teaching, and that’s how a great teacher makes a difference in someone’s life because Maria Montessori once said, “The greatest sign of a success for a teacher… is to be able to say, “The children are now working as if I did not exist.”

 

 References:

 

1.      Mary Wolverton (2012). Teachers Making a Difference, Inspiring Possibilities. http://abcnewspapers.com/2012/03/07/teachers-making-a-difference-inspiring possibilities/. Retrieved: 20 February 2014.

1. 2.Maria Montessori. Brainy Quotes. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m /maria_montessori.html. Retrieved: 20 February 2014.

 

 

 

By: Alicia F. Tabugan | Teacher III | Bagumbayan Elementary School | Pilar, Bataan