Jenny O'Fee

Handing yourself over to be a student in a completely new discipline or unfamiliar territory can be daunting and this was where I found myself this summer during my Yoga Teacher Training at YogaWorks in Soho, NYC. The whole experience has taught me such a lot as both an educator and as a learner, and reminded me just how often we undervalue the power and impact of a truly GREAT teacher.

There have been many articles and posts written about the key ingredients to maximising learning in a classroom, how to engage students, strategies and tools that can be used to connect students with their learning and how to structure a lesson to maintain student interest. When it comes down to it however, what really makes the difference, is the teacher. It is a complex and arduous task to define what actually makes a truly GREAT teacher, but somehow you just know one when they cross your path.

When I found myself in the Yoga Studio, my classroom for a month, with Paula Liberis, I realised she was exactly that, a truly GREAT teacher. Someone who inspires and who is inspired, someone who has passion for their discipline and shares that in every aspect of their teaching. Someone who engages every student in the room and treats everyone equally. Someone who models and encompasses the values that they teach. Someone who connects to their students in an authentic, sincere way. Ultimately, someone who cares about the learning, invests in the learners and is also a reflective learner themselves.

It seemed appropriate then, that at the beginning of a new school year, this be my first post for the term ahead:  Appreciation of GREAT teachers.

My focus this term is to show appreciation for all of the GREAT teachers who are around me, those both near and far. Every time a student leaves with a lasting memory of their learning; an ancedote a teacher has shared to help them understand something or an experience they have participated in that has inspired, amazed or challenged their thinking, a GREAT teacher has been at work. GREAT teachers are a gift to be appreciated.