WHAT MAKES A GOOD TEACHER GREAT? Part 4

Dr. Wendy Ghiora – Posting #41 – February 27, 2010

This week we will read about our fourth and final candidate for National Teacher of the Year. Let’s continue our quest to find qualities great teachers have that mediocre teachers don't. What are the unique attributes that make these teachers truly outstanding? It is my hope that as we learn from “the best of the best,” we will find at least some of the connecting threads, binding certain qualities and beliefs into something that will clarify our understanding of what makes these individuals truly special and a cut above. Ideally, as we discover these threads, we will be motivated to take our teaching up to a higher level.

Our final candidate is Cynthia Cole Rigsbee.

Cynthia Cole Rigsbee-2009 North Carolina Teacher of the Year
Rigsbee is a sixth through eighth-grade reading teacher at Gravelly Hill Middle School in Efland, North Carolina. She has been an educator at Gravelly Hill, a school of 470 students, for the past three of her 21 years serving as a teacher.

"Teachers are professionals and our citizens need to be aware of the tremendous effort and purposeful thought that go into our jobs daily. And teachers need to better understand how to market themselves and their schools. Sure, attire is important for the "look" of a professional. But what we say when we are in the grocery store and around the neighborhood pool has a great deal of impact on how the public perceives us. Any negativity must stop at the schoolhouse door and be remedied in the important collaboration that occurs in Professional Learning Communities. And as we shift the thinking of others about what we do, eventually we'll influence the thinking of legislators and others who impact education policy."

Ms. Cole is a true professional and she urges all teachers to behave in like manner. Many teachers forget the fact their role in the community is similar to that of a preacher or even a city council member. Indeed, many parents and neighbors view teachers as opinion leaders and as cornerstones of the community. When teachers complain in public or make off-handed remarks about the “horrible kids” they have to deal with everyday, what message does that send to the neighbors? When teachers complain about the stupidity of their boss (the principal) or of the lack of equipment and the poor facilities they have to work with, what is the interpretation going on in the minds of those listening? Should teachers openly convey an attitude of bitterness and inability to cope? As Mary Engelbreit said, “If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. “ Teachers must promote themselves and their career as one of hard-working professionals full of hope and with a large dose of optimism. They alone have been given the wonderful opportunity to change the future for the better by molding one student at a time into the very best he or she can be. Only when teachers stop publicly behaving like disgruntled street urchins, and start behaving like professionals will they get the respect they deserve. Only then will legislators take teachers seriously and become advocates for public education. "People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Worship," The Conduct of Life, 1860