What makes great teaching?

I think what makes great teaching is having the understanding that we as educators have the influence to change people’s lives and shape multiple generations, and acquiring all the knowledge we can to be able to make this possible in a positive way. As teachers, we have so much freedom in what we choose to share with our students. While we obviously have our curriculum that we are required to teach, there is so much more that an educator does that this class has taught me. We teach our students not only their basic school subjects, but how to function as a person in society. How to see things in another’s perspective, how to care for one another, how to have compassion for the world around them. Growing up, we’re so used to just our bubble and what inhabits it. Our family’s structure, the things our individual families face. When we go to school, we’re exposed to everything else that is. Most problems arise from lack of awareness of others’ struggles, so it’s important that we teach our students that these struggles are normal. Some people choose or are not able to pursue higher level education, which is completely okay, but that highlights the importance that public education plays in developing members of a community. We should teach our students the value that difference brings. Without difference, what would make someone special? Teaching these differences and that difference is not a negative thing is in my opinion one of the strongest aspects of great teaching.