Compare and Contrast: Two Educators
In high school I had two teachers that stood out,
one of them was Mrs. Heart, and she was a very enthusiastic and spirited
teacher. The other was Mr. Football, he was unmotivated, ill prepared, and frustrating
teacher. Mrs. Heart was a wonderful teacher who cared and loved her students;
Mr. Football, on the other hand, was also a football coach for the school and
only cared about his players. These are two very different teachers and how
they interacted with and taught their students. They both exhibited very
different characteristics, but both of these teachers are ones that I will
always remember. They both went to school and had a passion for what they did.
However they both had good teaching habits and bad teaching habits. Mrs. Heart
and Mr. Football left me with higher expectations of teaching.
In Mrs.
Heart’s classroom there were six large island sized workstations and three
large pallets of clay. There were four pottery wheels in the back and a large
adjoining room to the left of the class, which was the kiln room that was full
of fired pottery. On the first day, she was wearing a giant yellow hat and
bright orange coveralls, standing by the desk handing each student a number.
She gave each student a number and directed each one towards their assigned
seat with that number. All the students piled in, the bell rang meaning the
class has begun. She turned to the board and writes her name and the class name
on the board. When she finished she turned and said in a loud but welcoming
voice good afternoon class I am Mrs. Heart and this is pottery. Mrs. Heart told
the class about the numbering system and how the class will need to meet new
people, after she went on to tell us about pottery and she was so enthusiastic
and passionate about what she was saying, the whole room was captivated. As the
semester went on she taught us about pottery and making art, making the art
that we liked not what was expected from us. She allowed complete free artistic
license with each project we did. She only had simple rules and guidelines for
what was needed for the project to be complete, for example if it was a candle
stick it needed to hold a candle, or a wall mask it needed to be hung on a
wall. She was great about inspiring us to complete our work; if her students
struggled they suffered from what she called artistic farts. If her students
had an artistic fart she would come to each one who experienced this anomaly
and help them find some light. She was a good teacher and a great inspiration
to find our creative side. Mrs. Heart loved coming into class, she was always
prepared for the day’s assignment. She was fun and charismatic. She was always encouraging;
she never wanted her students to struggle with a project. Mrs. Heart made sure
we not only learned but that they had fun doing it. Mrs. Heart was bubbly and
full of enthusiasm. She felt that we could never fail. Mrs. Heart was a very
good teacher, but she was also very strict about class rules and was not easily
swayed. She made sure that all her students were accountable for their work.
Mrs. Heart had good teaching qualities, she was always on time, always
prepared, and motivated on the student’s success in the class.
Mr.
Football taught US History, the classroom was located in the senior hallway of
the main building. The classroom was moderately sized, full of desks, and the
walls were covered with maps, and famous historical figures. There were large
windows showing the garden and a very large whiteboard that wrapped around the
two connecting walls. The bell rang and all of the class just sat there
wondering if we were in the right class, as we sat confused and agitated, Mr.
Football finally appeared, he was twenty minutes late and talking on his phone,
and he would normally be completely captivated with something other than his
class. After a few minutes finally he would speak to the class. On the first
day he announced that he did not have a syllabus or a plan for the day’s work, He
would always promise to have class assignments ready the next day, but they
never happened. This was normal for Mr. Football, He pull out a DVD and put it
on the TV for us to watch. It was usually a documentary of ancient Egypt or
some movies about WWII. As the class work or movie started, Mr. Football would
grab all of the returning football players that happened to be in his class and
brought them to the back of the class by his desk. He then precedes to pull-up
last year’s highlights and goes over stats and formation with them. As the rest
of the week goes on every day is the same. Mr. Football was habitually late,
and he would be very vague about class work and homework. Mr. Football seemed
passionate about history when he did talk about it but he let his extra duties
step in the way. Just Like every day he grabbed the football players and went
to the back of the class and watched last week’s game, sometimes the head coach
would join him in class and they would have a full on meeting about football.
Our homework was always given back late and sometimes not even corrected.
Projects were hard to understand and complicated, and he would never really
answer your questions about homework. He was a bad teacher, a great football
coach but a horrid teacher. Mr. Football was always late for class and
unprepared. He never fully explained projects or homework, but expected it to
be perfect to his standard. Mr. Football cared more about football than he did
his history students. Mr. Football showed very bad teaching qualities, he was
always late, never prepared, and not focused.
In
conclusion, a good teacher is one who cares and wants their students to learn
and succeed in school or another venture. A bad teacher is on who does the bare
minimum and leaves their students a minimal understanding of the class subject.
Both teachers worked for the same school, and were great teachers but in very
different aspects. Mrs. Heart deeply cared about the success of her students
while Mr. Football cared deeply about winning the next football game. If Mr.
Football gave the same attention to his history class. Mr. Football was a great
teacher. These teachers both had enthusiasm, passion, and they both loved their
students. It’s just only one of them showed it to their actual class and the
other did not. Mrs. Heart was a fun and knowledgeable teacher she loved
teaching her students how to create their own art. She was an outstanding
teacher. Mr. Football was a horrible teacher, he never answered questions and
if he did they did not help. He was always late and ill prepared; it made him
seem as if he did not care about his students.
