Teaching in Alaska, Part One: What Makes A Good Teacher?

Do students’ test scores reflect a teacher’s abilities? With the state and the Anchorage School District planning to include test results as part of teachers’ annual reviews, the question arises: what, exactly, makes a good teacher?

How people should grade teachers depends on who you ask. Some students, like Begich Middle School student Rabture Ahsan, say humor is one of the best criteria.

“It's funny to me when he talks like hip music and Charleston music,” Ahsan said while talking about his English teacher, Michael Forbes. “It makes me learn about the 1920s.”

Others, like Begich Middle School student Cheyenne Bolan, say a good teacher maintains control of their classroom.

“They are responsible and they know how to handle a situation when a conflict comes up,” Bolan said.

Begich Middle School student Aspyn Chase-Garfield prefers a hands-on approach to education, saying math teacher Jason Collins cares about how students perform in each assignment.

“He's very interactive with everyone,” said Chase-Garfield, who is taking Collins’ elective robotics class for the second time. “He doesn't really teach in a boring way where it’s just, ‘OK, do this and this and this, done;’ he kind of helps you if you need help, and if something goes wrong he will fix it.”

But figuring out exactly how to engage with students and encourage participation is an educator’s biggest challenge. Collins says he focuses on a lighter approach in his classroom.

“Kids come to us with all kinds of backgrounds and things like that, and you can't necessarily have a one-size-fits-all (approach), so you really try to tailor everything thing you do to each individual student,” Collins said. “If you present yourself as approachable and you’re friendly and you try to keep things light and fun, most of those behavior issues go away. Because if kids are like, ‘Hey, I’m having a good time today,’ bad stuff may be going on outside of class or at home or in the lunchroom, but ‘In this class, I feel happy.’”

Forbes, the English teacher at Begich, says comfort is important -- but his main goal is to encourage students by investing and believing in their potential for success.

“I think a good teacher starts with someone who truly cares,” Forbes said. “Once you let the students know you truly care then they start to respect you more, and once you've earned that trust and respect you can really start to push students beyond their perceived limits, and that's when really exciting things start to happen inside the classroom.”

A colleague of Forbes at the same school, English and French teacher Diane Ensign, agrees with that point.

“Caring for the students is probably the biggest thing, that's what motivates you to come in here every day,” Ensign said.

Ensign says she's learning to be versatile with technology and other adults in an effort to reach students.

“There’s so many different ways to get at the subject, you just have to look for different ways to get at things,” she said. “It's a big turnaround but it’s nice to see that if you keep coming in and working it does have an impact.”

All of the skills mentioned by these educators are traits of a great teacher, according to Anchorage School District Superintendent Dr. Jim Browder.

“There is somebody along the way that said something to you that made you feel, ‘You know what, I can do this.’” Browder said. “A desire to do everything they can to help a youngster be successful.”

As evidence of their presence at local schools, he points to the number of district students who are scoring above the national average on tests.

“So our top 20 percent can competem and that's about teachers that care about kids and families,” Browder said.

It all comes down to a solid relationship between teachers and their students, as well as communication -- no matter how boring or hard the subject may seem at first.

“In math they help me understand the problem,” Bolan said. “The teacher can help make it fun by asking us questions and quizzing us and stuff.”

As students like Bolan say, the right teacher can make all the difference -- and equations like these quickly add up to success.

Contact Corey Allen Young