The 3Ps of a great teacher
What are great teachers made of?
PASSION
Passion is more important than technical expertise. An expert who is not passionate about the topic is a terrible teacher. A teacher that is passionate but lacks expertise eventually gains the expertise, but an expert without passion will forever remain a terrible teacher.
PATIENCE
A teacher remains patient when a student’s frustration turns into anger directed at them.
A corollary of this is how a poor measure of a teacher’s quality an end-of-semester teaching survey could be (the deeper question really is: what would a good measure be? but that needs a separate note).
PERSPECTIVE
A teacher wants their students to surpass them. A teacher who competes with their students misunderstands their role. Having perspective means recognising that teaching is about students’ growth rather than demonstrating one’s own superiority.