One of the activities I am to complete as part of the EER504 subject is to find an image which represents the qualities of the “ideal” teacher, however this seemingly simple task has really thrown me into a spin. I wish it was as simple as listing a few qualities and finding an image to match, but I am really having issues with idea that there is an “ideal” teacher. So please bare with me as I try to work this one through.

First the concept of ideal. When used as an adjective, ideal means to embody a standard of perfection, beauty, or excellence (Ideal, n.d.). However these qualities are not globally agreed upon and I believe are defined by contextual factors such as time, culture and location ect.. Take time for example, what I considered an ideal hairstyle 20 years ago is not the same as what I consider ideal now. Or Culture, what I consider an ideal family dinner is different to that of someone who was born and raised in say… Egypt. I don’t believe “ideal” is a fixed concept, it is always changing and being redefined.

Now back to the “ideal teacher”

  • First, there some pretty obvious entry-level qualities to being a good teacher including being respectful, caring and knowledgeable however I believe these alone do no make a teacher “ideal”.
  • Secondly, it could be possible to identify the qualities of an “ideal” teacher based on one specific context (e.g one classroom at a specific point in time), however this would not be reflective of other contexts.

With this in mind, I believe it to be futile to define the “ideal” teacher, because the qualities which make them “ideal” change depending on the context. Some of the factors that impact on context could include community expectations, learner dispositions, cultural beliefs, geographical location ect. I like to think that across the world right now we could have a thousand “ideal” teachers but not one would look or act the same way.

So back to the original task – find an image that represents the qualities of an “ideal” teacher.

Three Black Camera Lens. (ATC Comm Photo, 2018)

Here we have three lenses, representing my belief that teachers need to have the capacity and willingness to see through multiple lenses. Like a photographer, teachers must be able and willing to interchange their lenses to get the best result. The “ideal” teacher has a balanced perspective,  is open-minded and willing to change.

 

References

ATC Comm Photo. (2018). Three Black Camera Lens [Online image]. Pexels. Retrieved from https://www.pexels.com/photo/three-black-camera-lens-952260/.

Ideal. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary (11th ed.) Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ideal