Do Smart Teachers Make Smarter Students?
There’s a good chance that you have considered the question, “Do Smart Teachers Really Make Smarter Students?” It is one of those questions that’s been bugging you since you entered school. You were probably curious enough to know the answer anyway, and now you’re even more curious. Are smart teachers smarter? Do smart teachers make smarter students? The answer, of course, is yes and no.
First, let’s define what makes a person smarter than another? Intelligence, of course, is an ability to learn, process, and execute ideas. Obviously, the teachers who teach their students the best have the highest levels of intelligence, but even the best teachers aren’t as smart as their students.
Now let’s define what makes students smarter. Simple observation says that the students who are the most intelligent and educated are the ones who are most attentive. They pay attention, they listen, and they process the information that is presented to them. They are the ones who are interested in learning. More importantly, these same students are also curious. Curious students ask more questions and are more likely to get the class content points that they want and need to succeed.
Smarter students are eager to learn. They are always looking for new things to learn. They are eager to test their knowledge and are excited to discover what their classmates don’t know. The best students make curious observations and explore different possibilities. These students are curious, smart, attentive, and curious.
If we want our classrooms to be the best learning environments, then we must take steps to make our classrooms smarter. We can’t hope to teach students to be better students if we’re not willing to pay attention to them, be curious of their needs, be curious of their ideas, and be willing to try new techniques and strategies. Allowing our students to feel important and valued will make them better learners and will help them develop an appreciation for their fellow students and for teachers.
Creating a good classroom management plan doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, it can be easy if teachers are willing to look at their portfolios, listen to their students, pay attention to the activities going on in the classroom, and take a look at their own portfolios to see what kind of student they have. Most teachers probably do all of these things already. But if they don’t, then they can look at their portfolio or even their student’s work and identify where the strengths lie so that they can begin to teach more effectively and to encourage students to engage more fully and be involved more in the lessons.
So, how can teachers make smarter classrooms? One way is to encourage a healthy curiosity about the subject and about the process by which learning takes place. A second way is to let students get involved in the planning and creation of a new lesson. A third way is to use real examples in the class to get students to think about real world situations, evaluate the information available, and draw their own conclusions. Finally, teachers should encourage independent thinkers who will be able to think for themselves, but who also understand that it’s their responsibility to provide good examples and to provide good classroom management skills as well.
In other words, teachers need to be flexible. They need to make themselves open to listening to their students’ ideas, concerns, and questions. They also need to allow their students to make the most of their talents and to show off their work when they do it well. Above all, teachers need to be genuinely interested in helping their students become better learners and writers. Doing that means allowing them to do a deeper study of the material, to ask more difficult questions, and to challenge them to do even harder work.
