Paper 2 : What Makes a Good Teacher?

Teachers come in and out of our lives -- they either make an impact or they have no effect on us at all. The difference between the two is good teaching and bad teaching. Two teachers that have proven to make an impact are Mr. Keating and Ms. Gruwell. Both of them have shown dedication to their career, real love for their students, and mind opening experiences.

Dedication isn’t something where you do the bare-minimum to get by -- you have to prove that whatever you are doing is worth the price to pay. That price may be losing a marriage or losing your job, both of these are the cases for Ms. Gruwell and Mr. Keating. When most of us think about good teaching we think about teachers that have had some sort of impact on us. They may have helped us finally figure out that tricky math problem we had been stuck on for weeks or they may have been there to help us through a tough time. But no matter what the occasion was they left their mark. The teaching styles of Ms. Gruwell and Mr. Keating are very similar, they both use an active style of teaching where they get their students involved in the learning. In the case of Ms. Gruwell and Mr. Keating they left a huge impression on their students. They were the ones that risked everything just so their students had the opportunity to have something better. In the case of Ms. Gruwell she took on three jobs. Those jobs weren’t just because teachers are paid enough, which is a whole other topic. The purpose of those jobs was to provide for her students, from the money she made she bought her students books and journals. This provided her students with confidence. Confidence that they could be whatever they wanted to be and that they were worth it. As any one of us could imagine juggling three jobs and a marriage something was bound to go wrong. For Ms. Gruwell’s case she lost her marriage. Dedication isn’t something that is easy – you give a little and take a little. Finding the balance is the art. Mr. Keating had an understanding of balancing dedication. He knew that if he dove right in he’d never resurface, but if he didn’t dive at all he wouldn’t make a splash. Mr. Keating had a point he wanted to make to his students – that point was that live your own life. Now that seems like a pretty basic point and how does that relate to dedication? It relates to dedication because Mr. Keating gave his students something that no other teacher at the school could – he gave them a voice, “Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all” (Dead Poets Society). By providing his students with a voice he gave them a whole new view on life and the outside world. He has them do this in all sorts of ways, from standing on tables to get a new perspective. The whole point of that was when you are getting use to the same thing try to look at it from another direction. His purpose was to have them see themselves for who they were and not who their parents wanted them to be. Dedication comes with risks – for Mr. Keating the risk was his job. The outcome on the students was far greater than either of them could imagine.

Teaching requires a certain type of drive – a drive for your students and not yourself. The outcome isn’t to make yourself look good, but to make your students thrive. In other words it’s having a love for your students and that is something that good teachers have and bad teachers don’t. When the drive is lost you also lose your students and in turn leave them out to dry. Ms. Gruwell is a teacher that has that drive where her students come first. Her love was tested right at the beginning, when she was given a class filled with ‘failures’. Right then it could have broken her. Turned a good teacher into a bad teacher within a snap of your fingers. Instead of doing what most other teachers would have done in her shoes, she decided she was going to connect with them. This was one of her biggest challenges, proving that she had respect for them, “Why should I give you my respect to you? Because you're a teacher? I don't know you. How do I know you're not a liar standing up there. How do I know you're not a bad person standing up there? I'm not just gonna give you my respect because you're called a teacher”(Freedom Writers). She knew her only was to break through was to connect with these inner-city kids. After trying and trying and trying she finally broke through. The one thing she had to gain was trust, one thing that no other teacher had ever been able to prove. By showing them that trust they allowed her to come into their world. Mr. Keating on the other hand didn’t have to earn trust. His students were over obedient and he wanted them to think for themselves. Mr. Keating and Ms. Gruwell had the opposite problem, but also the same problem. Meaning they both wanted their students to see themselves for who they are, not what their parents wanted them to be or what their race defined them as. They wanted them to dig deep down and figure out what it meant to be themselves. Mr. Keating taught them this by using alternative methods of teaching; such as when learning about poetry he wanted them to feel it. So he had them recite their poems to the music. He also had them do a simple act of follow the leader, showing them how they just hopped right in and did what the other person was doing. Mr. Keating’s love for his students was shown through the way he wanted them to embrace their dreams.

When we think of good teachers we think of teachers that have showed us something we would have never thought of. They have showed us a new perspective on things or opened our eyes to the world around us. Those teachers are the ones that make the most impact. They take what we know and they make it more relatable and real. Ms. Gruwell does this by taking what her students know and applying knowledge that is relatable. She introduces them to the Holocaust. Now these kids had never heard of this, but yet they were living it. Just like the Holocaust they were judge by the race they were. They lived a battle every day and to die with honor meant you fought for your kind. Not only did Gruwell play off of what they already knew, but also she showed them a tragic ending to what it would end up being. She had them interested in something that they could relate to and not just one or two of them – but the entire class could. She showed them that they aren’t alone. That to end a battle you must fight together. She also took them on a field trip that showed them that the rest of the world isn’t a battleground. She took them out of the ‘hood’ and into the city where they went to a museum and learned about the children that have been affected by hate. This museum was exactly what her students needed. It showed them the affect of hatred and how it ends, typically ending in tragedy. By showing her students this she showed them that not everywhere is a battle. She gave them something to aspire to be. Mr. Keating did something very similar to that. He showed his students that to be who you are meant to be you must stand up for yourself. You must aspire to do great things and to be happy with what the outcome may be. He did this by introducing to the boys to ‘The Dead Poets Society’. This secret society was to show the boys to take a step away from what everyone else was doing. It was a way for them to rebel against conformity. By showing giving them “The Dead Poets Society” it provide them with an understanding of how to live life. To live for themselves rather than for others and to live in the now rather than following what everyone else was doing.

No matter what kind of teachers we have had in the past, these two teachers have made an impact that most teachers cannot. We take for granted of what we are given and just take what is handed to us. To make a teacher great, they make you work for what they are giving. Mr. Keating and Ms. Gruwell are very different, but they both are able to bring out the best in their students and show them the best in themselves.