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Great Teacher

Came across this article in The Sunday Times (July 26) titled "Great teachers in a class of their own" and found it thought-provoking.

Below is an excerpt taken from the article:

"Truly exceptional teachers, at whatever level - primary or secondary school, undergraduate or post-graduate-are rarer than exceptional doctors or lawyers. that is so not because the profession is filled with people who cannot "do". On the contrary, it is so because teaching - exceptional teaching - involves a rare order of doing.
You cannot convey values by reciting them. An exceptional teacher conveys them by example, by osmosis almost, from every fibre of her being, even in her speech and gesture...bad teacher insists; good teachers are. The reason the last are rare is that the most important things in any subject, as in life, cannot be taught explicitly. they can only be embodied as examples - in the teachers themsevles.
Being vs. Doing.
The editor summed it well : "Exceptional teachers teach by example, becoming the tool of instruction themsevles."

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