Here’s a question that came up in the Teacher’s room today. What do you think?
Does knowing more Torah make someone a better teacher?
Meaning, obviously, knowing a ton of Torah doesn’t automatically make someone a good teacher, but can it make him or her a better teacher.
If we were to take a teacher with all of their pros and cons and then a replica of that teacher with the same pros and cons plus more Torah knowledge, would the replica with the Torah knowledge be a better teacher or not necessarily?
Why or why not?
Obviously, it can't hurt to know more Torah. And if it is Torah content that might come up in class or in questions that students may ask, of course that is helpful.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do not think that simply learning Torah automatically makes someone a better Teacher. (We probalby all know tremendous Talmidei chachamim who are not good "teachers".)
Perhaps the question could be better phrased this way: Assuming the teacher knows the material he/she is teaching, would one become a better teacher by spending 1 hour learning Torah or by spending one hour in a class about teaching (or reading about teaching methodology)?
I will treat the question put forth in the comment above as the question at hand. I do not believe that learning Torah an extra hour, or sitting in a methodology class for an hour will help that much. Unless the methodology course deals directly with the material at hand, and uses a more indepth study of that material as its framework.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I don't think either way will help if algebra is being taught. :)
As a non-educator, I will say this. use that hour to become more excited in with the material. A teacher's enthusiasm and desire to tell over the information is what students notice and remember.