Throughout my educational career I have experienced several examples of both
great instruction and poor instruction. Several themes, as discussed in this
week’s readings, are readily apparent when I reflect upon what I view as a
good teacher or a poor teacher. I have continuously found that a teacher who
is patient has a level of real-world expertise in their topic and is confident in
their abilities, within an objective approach, are key elements of what I have
viewed as effective instructors. e I will discuss below two examples that I have
experienced, one example of an expert and excellent instructor and one
example of an instructor that could use improvement.
One of the best teachers that I’ve ever had was not in a formal traditional
academic sense. My exposure to this teacher was actually during my time as a
police cadet, after completing five years of active duty service in the military. I
was transitioning from a military mindset after three combat tours in Iraq into
becoming a police officer here in the United States, and in attendance at a
police academy. e The lead instructor at the academy was a military veteran and
had many years of experience under his belt as a police academy instructor. e
He took the time and patience with me to help me adapt in my mindset and
took interest in ensuring that I was also transitioning from military life into
civilian life. e Coupled with his subject matter expertise in law enforcement, he
became a mentor and a life coach, someone that I could look up to as a role
model in both my professional life and my personal life. e Additionally, he was
patient with me where needed but also held me to a high standard and
accountable, which was vital in my professional and personal growth. e It has
been found that this form of teaching and leadership, coupled with preventative
and post incident care also helps police officers and combat veterans gain a
higher level of resiliency in the face of job-related trauma (Ellrich & Baier,
2017). e This instructor excelled at all the elements that are described in our
reading, but he encouraged student-faculty contact, taking direct interest in
guiding other cadets and I to our fullest potential (Bernstein et al., 2020).
An example of a poor experience I have had with a teacher comes from my
time in my master’s program. I was going to school part time and about 9
years into my career in law enforcement. e The class I was in was very
obviously being taught by a teacher who had a very liberal agenda based on
their presentations. e Every presentation and every assignment that the teacher
gave during the class was absolutely tainted by their personal beliefs and
strayed far from the source topic material. e Early in the class I wrote a paper
using empirical evidence to dispute the teacher’s viewpoint and it was given a
poor grade. e I found myself the rest of the semester carefully ensuring that my
assignments were written to not stand against the teacher’s views. e At the
conclusion of the class, I found that I had learned very little, and the entire
class was more-so an exercise in patience on my end than anything else. e This
teacher had little to no respect for diverse learning styles and backgrounds, as
well as did not provide an active learning environment, which is a principle of
effective teaching (Bernstein et al., 2020)
This teacher likely had valuable information to share but could not step away
from their own ego and connect with their students. e In 1 Peter 4:10 it is
stated “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others,
as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms (King James Bible,
2017).” e This Bible verse perfectly covers the issues faced in the second
scenario and is a direct lesson on how to fix that issue. e To respect each
student’s experience, while holding them to a high standard, allows each
student to fully develop their gifts as God intended.
References
Bernstein, D., Frantz, S., & Chew, S. (2020). Teaching Psychology. New York:
Routledge.
Ellrich, K., & Baier. (2017). Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Police Officers
Following Violent Assaults. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 331-356.
King James Bible. (2017). Retrieved from King James Bible:
https://www.kingjamesbibeonline.org
