Questioning

Matthew Allen also wrote that questioning is the key analytical skill that enables us to develop complex knowledge about the world in the form of structures of related ideas, so as to communicate with other people.

It is not the answers to these questions (questions in the Thinkers with Attitude) that matter, but the very fact that we ask them of ourselves, the willingness no to 'take things for granted' or to be satisfied with the 'obvious answer' . Indeed, it is one of the great failures of our school system that, by and large, we are educated as children to believe that someone has the answer and all we have to do is develop a clever way of finding that answer. In fact, the key skill thay you need to be an effective and thoughtful adult, who is able to engage with and understand the world, is not an ability to find the answers: it is the ability to ask the right questions. If you can ask the right questions, then most of the answers will come very easily. Moreover, you will also understand why others do not seem to understand your answers but have their own views.

Thinkers with Attitude

Matthew Allen in his book Smart Thinking wrote: remember, smart thinking always has a social dimension: we humans are doing the reasoning. As a result, one of the key ingredients of succesfull thinking and analysis, and of the effective use of reasoning, is our own attitude. For most (if not all) of us, our knowledge will usually consist of both the basic information or 'facts' we know, as well as a framework or structure of broader ideas with which we interpret these facts. Many of us are quite capable of assimilating and 'knowing' the facts, but smart thinkers constantly asses their structures and frameworks. In the process, they develop a much deeper and more effective appreciation of situations and events. Smart thinkers can be confident in their reasoning, precisely because they do not rely on too many unexamined or unquestioned assumptions.

First of all, we should always be willing to reflect on our own views and positions - to scrutinise the way we think about the world. We might ask ourselves, from time to time:

• are my views consistent with one another


• what assumptions underpin them


• am I open to new ideas and alternative conclusions


• can I look at this issue from another perspective

We should also be constantly asking ourselves, in relation to the issues that matter to us:

• why did this happen


• what should we do next


• what does it mean

The Competent Teacher

Janet Fine wrote: Teachers are often viewed as competent if they are living up to the standards the school has established. Keeping up with the competition by publishing the required papers or lecturing on different panels does make a teacher better known but does not make a better teacher. Arthur Combs wrote in an essay “The Personal Approach to Good Teaching” that “If we know what the expert teachers do, or are alike, then we can teach the beginners to be like that.”

According to Combs many investigations on the competency of a good teacher have been made, but basic results show that good teaching can not simply be defined in terms of any particular trait. One study demonstrated that a number of general classes of behaviour seemed to be characteristic of good teachers.

“The creation of long lists of competencies is likely to be deeply discouraging and disillusioning to the young teacher,” says Combs. “Evaluations of ‘goodness’ or ‘badness’ become attached to method, and students there after are expected to judge their own adequacies in these terms. The net effect is to set such impossible goals of excellence that no one can ever hope to reach them.”

Teacher: Mental Health

Teacher: Important of Mental Health
By: Janet Fine


All teachers must be emotionally well-balanced. Bad temper and impatience are quickly sensed by students and can destroy the delicate child-teacher relationship. Of course, there are worries and anxieties which affect all of us, and teachers have their share of them. Yet, an emotionally healthy teacher will take the daily frustrations for what they are. A good teacher will not magnify their importance.

It certainly is unfair for teachers to unburden themselves in the classroom. The fear and terror created by the moody, prejudiced, over-strict, or otherwise emotionally unstable teacher endangers the psychological health of the pupils, just as a teacher suffering from tuberculosis endangers their physical health. School principals and superintendents are working hard to devise procedures for screening out unstable personalities from among teacher candidates.

Teacher Qualifications

The Well-Adjusted Teacher
By: Angelo Patri


A well-adjusted teacher is one who can laugh, easily and often. There is no tension anywhere in his body, he swings along easily, with a light step, a shinning happy look in his eyes. He takes the mistakes, the annoyances that are daily occurrences in the life of any teacher, with a smile and shrug and says, Well, well, tomorrow is another day. We’ll begin again tomorrow.

The healthy-minded teacher never bears a grudge. When there is something going wrong he goes directly to the source and says, How Come? What’s to do here? Tell me about it, and if necessary speaks clearly, even sharply, what is in his mind, a free, clear mind. Once having done so the matter is settled as far as he is concerned. He does not brood over wrong, either real or fancied. Nor does the healthy-minded teacher lose self-control in times of stress.

Teaching: The Personality of the Teacher

Teaching: The Personality of the Teacher


The teacher’s personality is what makes school a vital experience. When a radio program conducted a poll in which thousands of children were asked to write about the teacher who had been most helpful to them, letter after letter indicated that it was the qualities of the teacher’s character which meant more to the student than the subject matter which was taught.

The “best teachers” were given high ratings in: cooperation, democratic spirit, kindness, consideration for the individual pupil, patience, wide interests, personal appearance, fairness, sense of humour, interest in students’ problems, and disposition. An interesting note: at the very end of the list was “skill in presenting the subject matter!”

A teacher possessing all these traits will have no trouble providing a healthy, secure atmosphere for his or her class, an atmosphere suited to learning.

It is sometimes said that good teachers are those who have a natural ability for teaching. Yet often a teacher preparation institution screens teacher for their practical knowledge rather than their instinct for teaching. Demonstrated success in working with students is essential for a good teacher. Many students do not discover that they have no teaching ability until they begin practice teaching.

Janet Fine in
Opportunities in Teaching

Teaching: Questions for Teacher

Teaching: Questions for Teachers

Whether you decide to teach in the elementary grades, in high school, or in college, there are certain basic personal qualities you should have if you want to be successful in your job. Answer these questions:

1. Do you enjoy good physical and emotional health?
2. Do you enjoy working with other people – children, young adolescents, adults?
3. Do you like to study? In college teaching this is a must, since your chances for advancement will depend upon your capacity for independent research.
4. Do you become enthusiastic about new ideas, and do you like to discuss them with others?
5. How well do you express yourself and explain things to others?
6. Do you have a sense of humour?
7. Are you interested in what happens in your community, in your city, in your nation, and in the rest of the world?
8. Do you care about your personal appearance?

Every great teachers since Socrates knows that you learn through questioning. If you are a good teacher, you will get your students to respond to you. As a good teacher, you will need enthusiasm, a love of learning, and what former Harvard president James Bryant Conant called “the passion to learn and to understand.”

The good teacher treats each child as an individual ready to gain inspiration as well as knowledge. The good teacher is willing to explore the unknown, seeking to contribute new knowledge about the nature of the universe itself. By preserving the best values of the past, a good teacher can make the future a better place in which to live.


Janet Fine in
Opportunities in Teaching