To ask how parents know if their child has a good teacher?

[enimmead]

I have seen many threads on here where they say their child's teacher is much better than other teachers in the school.

How do parents know? Lesson observations? Looking at planning? Understanding how the teacher uses assessment to inform learning? Their careful use of questions? Learning style?

Or is it a gut feeling? I have no idea how good my son's teacher is. I think she pushes them quite hard but I don't think she consolidates learning as she is always pushing. But I've never observed her nor worked as a helper. As a teacher, I would hope to be able to get a feeling for how good she was if I observed her and looked at her books and planning over a number of weeks but I can't.

So how do parents know?

I am a teacher and have a dd who is 3. I'll think her teacher is great if she comes home from school enthused by what she is learning, is happy and progresses well. I'm a secondary sch teacher but I'm guessing it will be possible to view primary children's books to see their progress. That would be enough evidence for me.

Can't you get hold of his books?

Hi OP, I'm also a teacher. My main criteria for judging my DD's teachers are, first and foremost if she is happy and progressing. Secondly I listen to what she tells me about the way the teacher is in class, the way s/he reacts to the comments children make, the interest s/he takes in them, the way they are when I approach them about any problems. I don't give a damn about lesson plans, maybe I ought to but I don't. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with being organised but I don't think that necessarily makes for a good or inspiring teacher.

Sorry, I don't mean it isn't good to be organised per se I just mean that I am not overly fussed about paperwork.

Happy and progressing. I love the teachers at my son's school for what they done for him. They're lovely, caring, hard working people. except for one lazy

I know because I see how much DD has come on in certain things...how happy she is to go to school...how she gets passionate about things...she hated maths when she went ito year three...her clever teaccher has found a way to make her love it. That'll do me!

Dd is in primary school. I judge it by her being happy to go to school, enthusiastic about work, books marked, seeing her progress throughout the year.

Re-read your post OP....why don't you just observe your son? That's the best way to tell surely?

she is a fabulous teacher as she plans interesting things to do with the children and gives up her own time to do activities with the children after school.

she listens to concerns and makes adaptions for dd's special needs. she is happy and cheerful in the mornings and dd loves her.

the work that is planned and done looks interesting and at the appropriate level for dd. she has taken on board things I have said that dd can do at home and not dismissed me as a deluded even though dd is still not showing it at school.

she makes time to see parents other than at parents evening. oh and did I mention that she is lovely?

oh and she set up daily handwriting sessions as part of dd's iep.. and she has banged on about those ruddy full stops all year and dd is putting in full stops most of the time. i hate full stops.

Happy and progressing was my first thought when I started reading.

My 5 year old son coming home and teaching me things is certainly another.

The teachers knowledge of my sons character. The way she knows he is brilliant at maths even though he does not like to show it.

Can you tell I realy like her?

I wouldn't call DD's teacher good, thinking about it. I'd call her bloody phenomenal.

After years of coasting, DD (yr 6) is being stretched and challenged and loving it.

DD has charmed previous teachers & then run rings round them. This teacher can see right through her, lets her get away with nothing whatsoever, but likes her, and DD adores her back.

DD's enthusiasms in the past have included Ancient Egypt, Henry VIII and Greek mythology. She knows a LOT about all three, and previous teachers have found that a right pain in the arse when the class was studying one of those topics.

Not this teacher. She just incorporates it.

She's always ready to talk to parents, and always seems happy to talk to us as well.

The two boys in her class who spent half of last year in time out are now there very occasionally, according to DD, and the boy who has autism is much calmer.

What we wouldn't give to take the teacher along with us to DD's secondary school...

He always liked his teachers and has never had issues going to school. I think she dismisses our concerns re dyspraxia and has made minimal concessions. She is ok to talk to us and sometimes takes things on board.

They don't seem to spend too much time doing art, music and drama - based on what I can drag out of my DS. No real idea how how his maths / English is - looked at his books and can see some of the things he can do but I don't know how much that is just natural progress or down to good, effective teaching.

We only see his books twice a year. The thing is - he loves school anyway. I suppose the only thing I can say is she's not a poor teacher which is a good thing.

I would not have said the same abouut last years teacher. (see previous post)

she was strong on discipline. she got the class to where they should be.. but possibly at the expense of a couple of the more able learners.

Is it a private school?

I might have complained about a teacher like that before DS had a real horror and cried himself to sleep and stopped wanting to go to school. They won't all be fabulous, they won't all be the best teacher in the world but unless you get one who isn't teaching anything new and who makes your child not want to go to school then all is well and the blip will be overcome.

A good teacher is one who "gets" your dc and encourages them in their own particular way, whether it's with extension exercises or bulding up their confidence with praise.

This can be the same teacher as someone else describes as dreadful because they haven't "got" their dc.

I've been at both sides of this.

The best teachers manage to "get" all dc. Most teachers work better with some types of children and worse with others. It doesn't mean there's something wrong with your dc, or the teacher, just their personalities don't work as well together.
Ds had a teacher who he's adored and got on very well with. Dd had her before and was fairly indifferent. I quite like it when that happens as you get a different side to the teacher.

The best teachers that my dcs had were those that "got" all the children in their class. I was much less interested in academic hot-housing and far keener that the teacher encouraged the class in all aspects of their development. If my dcs were happy to go to school in the morning and came home healthily tired but with enthusiasm for what they'd done then this was a good sign.

Equally, you can't expect teachers to have the same rapport with all pupils (I come from a family of teachers so have some experience from the "other side") but it certainly helped when a teacher didn't, as in the case of ds2, tell me that she "didn't really have a lot in common with boys". However, it does your dcs no harm to realise that they need to cope with different styles of teaching.

My dcs were only 18 months apart in age and it was never a good sign at parent's evening when (as happened once or twice) their class teacher would say "they are very different, aren't they?". Because actually, they were siblings. Not clones. So apart from sharing a surname, parentage and the same house, it wasn't remarkable for them to be their own people!

I know from DD. In primary school, she was lucky to have at least three teachers who she adored. I used to love it when she'd come home and talk with great enthusiasm about what they'd done in class that day. And then at parents' evenings, you could see it for yourself - the difference between the teachers who really cared and were interested and the teachers who weren't.

Pandemoniaa it's interesting that you see saying "They are very different" as a bad sign. I see it as a good sign in my dd's because they are very different, and it's a good thing if the teacher figures it out quickly.

Because if you leave dd2 to get on with a piece of work in the way dd1 would love and produce a fantastic piece, then dd2 won't have written more than the date and half the title

I liked their difference being recognised, DeWe, for the same reasons as you describe for your dd.

Unfortunately, it was those occasions when the tone of voice and continued conversation suggested that it was somehow unreasonable of ds2 not to be an identical replicant of his brother that rang warning bells. Because ds1 was, in some respects, (and on the outside only!) an "easier" child in that he appeared to be a complete conformist.

I was always very encouraged by those teachers who recognised their differences and treated them as their own people from the outset.

For me it's a combination of seeing my child making the progress he is capable of and being happy but also having a teacher who is approachable and happy to discuss and deal with any concerns I may have as a parent. A teacher who gives me a clear picture of where my child is at parents evening also gives me confidence in them.

Last year one of my DC's had a teacher who I didn't feel was good because he wasn't making progress, I had to approach her several times over issues which she didn't deal with and so I had to go to the deputy head to get things sorted. Chatting to other parents, I found they were experiencing the same issues. By the end of the year the deputy head was taking lots of their lessons and at the end of the year the teacher announced to the children that she was taking a year out to go travelling. So I do think it becomes clear as the year progresses how good or otherwise a teacher is, at least for your own child.

Even if you don't help at school, do you go to school concerts/nativity plays/ open days where the whole class is doing something?
Do they all look happy and enthusiastic? (singing loudly, doing actions, smiling, know the words etc) Does the teacher look stressed and trying to 'control' the class/child or happy and smiling and leading the concert?

Just a few ideas....

oh and when your child refers to 'Mrs Smith' as the font of all knowledge and you feel your place has been surpassed, the teacher is a good one! :)

I had a really interesting discussion with a mother in ds's class last week. It turns out the teacher that we found was hopeless for Yr1 Ds suited her daughter completely - but this year's teacher suits ds and she's not at all happy with her daughter's progress. From my Pov, last year's teachers only gave a hint that they sort of understood DS by the 3rd term - they certainly didn't know him at all in the first one. This year, the teacher has worked him out within the first couple of weeks and its been a fantastic year as a result.