Which is Better?

[muhsin]

“Teachers are born but they are also made”

Aforesaid is a well know saying about who really is teacher. Thus, our lecturer at school gave us a voluntary assignment that we should discuss over it.

Questions: Are they really born? If yes, how are they born?
After they were born, are they better than those that are made?

My fellow good people, I’m not asking you to do it for me completely (as some might think) but to just help me in sorting it out.

[PeterL]

Hedge. Both are true.

All humans are born. All teachers are human, therefore all teachers are born.

All teachers require training before they become teachers. The training makes them teachers. Therefore, all teachers are made.

That's a simplistic argument, but a few hundred words pust around each would make a decent essay.

[mono]

“Teachers are born but they are also made”

Aforesaid is a well know saying about who really is teacher. Thus, our lecturer at school gave us a voluntary assignment that we should discuss over it.
Of course, a teacher as a human precedes a teacher as a teacher; a person must first exist as a person before his/her occupation. How teachers come to appear 'made,' one can debate. A teacher not only undergoes 'creation' with his/her extensive education, but also through students. For example, who or what would a teacher seem without students? Who would they teach, as a proclaimed 'teacher's' name states? In perhaps a more simple example, a construction worker cannot seem like a fulfilled construction worker without constructing something (a building, house, etc.)
In essence, not only does the education create a teacher, but also his/her students, in my opinion. :)

Questions: Are they really born? If yes, how are they born? After they were born, are they better than those that are made?
I think PeterL summarized this quite well.

[Charles Darnay]

Are we looking at teacher strictly in the universtiy degree sense? To some, isn't God a teacher? God was not born, he/she/it was made a teacher by... whoever.

[AimusSage]

You can't teach what you don't know, every teacher has to learn what he teaches first, The teachers learn themselves by teaching. Some people are more adept at teaching than others, which might mean they are born to be teachers, like some are said to be born leaders. It's the ability to convey thoughts and knowledge onto others that make a good teachers, not just the knowledge they have. So yes, teachers are both 'born' and made. Born in the sense that they have the character traits required to be good teachers, and made in that they refine these traits through studies.

[Scheherazade]

Questions: Are they really born? If yes, how are they born?
After they were born, are they better than those that are made? I think my understanding of 'teachers are born' is a little different from some of the above comments and I am inclined to agree with Aimus on this.

To me, 'teachers are born' does not refer to the literal/physical meaning of the word but to the fact that some people have an inborn aptitude for becoming a teacher. They feel more at home in front of a class, relating to their students and 'know' how to deal with them. Those are mostly the teachers we all remember fondly from our student days.

However, it is also true that no matter how 'talented' one is as a teacher, s/he needs to study not only his/her specialised subject matter but also the teaching methods, classroom management, educational psychology/sociology, curriculum etc (And one learns a lot from their own or others' experiences). Those who are 'born' teachers might find it easier to apply their learned knowledge within a classroom atmosphere but I believe even if one is not a 'born' teacher, s/he still can be a very good teacher by studying. Like anything else, a lot depends on one's commitment and how passionate about what they do.

Nice subject to write on, Muhsin! Good luck! Hope you will post your essay here once it is finished! :)

[grace86]

Well, teachers might be born...but only with so much as the capability to be good with people I think.

I think that teachers are made. They might be born with a wonderful capability to interact with people. But how do they teach without experience? Life is our human teacher's teacher. If they can teach successfully, it means that they have not only experienced life, but have gained wisdom out of it. I think that a teacher also has to be a learner.

[AimusSage]

Well, teachers might be born...but only with so much as the capability to be good with people I think.

I think that teachers are made. They might be born with a wonderful capability to interact with people. But how do they teach without experience? Life is our human teacher's teacher. If they can teach successfully, it means that they have not only experienced life, but have gained wisdom out of it. I think that a teacher also has to be a learner.

I agree, see my post above. :D

[grace86]

Yes, Aimus, I managed to read your post after I posted mine...so it should be me saying that I agree with you :lol:

[ShoutGrace]

Questions: Are they really born? YES

If yes, how are they born? Probably vaginally, but perhaps by C-Section. It's unique for each teacher.

After they were born, are they better than those that are made? I think so. Human characteristics are essential to teaching. I've never been taught anything substantial by a robot or artificial intelligence.

[muhsin]

No enough time now, but, I don't think the saying means Actual word "born" as giving birht.......but something rather.

[miss tenderness]

During my practical training for teaching intermediate and high level which I had during my days in college, my supervisor used to say after attending my classes "you are born to be a teacher". My supervisor stated it clearly Muhsin , that some people are born to be teachers and some are born to fit to other professions. I guess that some people have the ability to be friendly, close to his pupils' minds, understanding and most importantly the ability to make the info easy to grasp. But even those who have these abilities they have to develop this sense by taking courses in education methods and ways of teaching. By this way teachers are made. The best sort of teachers are those who have the needed requirements of a teacher and they do not stop at this point, but go further and develop it.

Best of luck with your assignment..Remember NO CHEATING: lol:

[Inez]

Hmmn. Myself and my colleagues have debate this question in terms of how much of our teaching should be let to our personal instincts and methods (with the assumption we are all born teachers anyway :) ), and how much of the teaching methods we apply should be prescribed.

Some people are 'natural' teachers and may be referred to as 'born teachers'. These people will have any of a variety of qualities such as an affinity with children or learners in general; a patient nature; an ability to see things through the yes of others- at least to be able to see how their subject could look to another person, so they can re-interpret it for them in ways they understand. They will also have an enthusiasm for, and pleasure in their subject that they convey to others.

Quite a few of the qualities above can be acquired through time and experience, so in that sense, a good teacher can be made; or a fair teacher or committed person can be improved.

Also, even 'born teachers' need some discipline and expertise in their subject. The more you know about a subject and how it can be broken down into its parts, the easier it is to deliver to a student. You can also learn how to listen better (listening is a vital quality if one is to be a good teacher); learn how to be organised and acquire new ways that help you understand how learners l;earn; in other words, you can learn what is called 'good practice'.

A so-called 'born teacher' is someone who never stops learning!

A poor teacher is going to be someone who, no matter what their knowledge of their subject, never acquires empathy with the learner, or care for the learner.

By 'subject' I mean anything that one is passing on to someone else; it doesn't have to be a school subject or anything like it.

[muhsin]

It's now that i got my question answered, more lucidly by what Miss tenderness as well as what Inez and broadly all of you said. Thanks.
Ang again, my gratefullness toward your effort is....I don't know how to even describe is but let me say a simple word as FANTASTIC!

Cheers!

[blazeofglory]

This is of course is an unanswerable question. We cannot say exactly what the is the truth. Yet all I believe is considerably indeed if not wholly a good teacher is trained. The source of training can be anywhere. Even a home could be a great trainer, with a good library, parents are more learned and open to questions and children are very questioning. All in point of fact contribute to the making a good teacher. Of course with these things in the background, if a teacher proceeds he could be a good teacher with a university degree.

A good teacher is a very inquisitive minded person, for every time he keeps on learning, learning not just from books from practicums, from day today works, from every walk of life, from everyone.

Just learning from books is a conventional or outdated or obsolete method of learning. A teacher must always update himself with things. Or else he will be a misfit as a teacher.