Great Teachers Get Results
(The last block of The Pyramid of Teaching Success)

In the Pyramid of Teaching Success, we now come to the final block, “Teacher.” Like the two blocks in the tier below, “Courage” and “Commitment,” this is not a block you actually work on; it’s a result of having worked on the 12 blocks below. But what do we mean by “teacher?” It’s kind of like being a “fisherman.” You can’t really call yourself a “fisherman” unless you catch fish. Likewise, you can’t say you’re a “teacher” unless you have taught, and that means, student learning. But, how do we define “student learning?”

A “teacher,” according to The Pyramid of Teaching Success, is defined as someone whose students not only assimilate the required curriculum information, but have also been taught how to arrive at information without a teacher. In other words, they have been given more than a fish; they have been taught how to fish. Put another way, great teachers give students an excitement and passion for learning that lasts well beyond the school years. 

T.E.A.C.H.E.R.
This caliber of teacher produces students that, upon graduation, run, rather than walk, into the world as confident and empowered individuals that have more than a base of knowledge; they are equipped and eager to do great things. What do these students look like? This acronym contains some ideas. 

Team-oriented: These students consider themselves fellow learners. They collaborate with others to accelerate learning and validate understanding.  

Encouraged: These students are eager to take risks and have buoyancy when they fail.

Ambitious: These students have a desire for personal achievement, to become the best they can be.
 
Confident: These students are secure about their abilities and potentials. They know they are no better than anyone else and no one is better than they are. 

Hungry: These students have appetites for knowing.

Empowered: Through teacher enablement, these students are equipped with knowledge and the skill necessary for continued learning.
 
Respectful:  These students have a civil reverence for authority, history, rules, and laws. However, the other side of that coin is, they are ready to constructively and objectively criticize the status quo, and come with thought-through solutions. 

Conclusion
So now you ask, “How do great teachers develop students like that?” Google, “How to be a great teacher?” and you will receive over 1,600,000 possible websites. Most of them have “how to” lists. Those lists have great information that should be considered. However, I couldn’t find one that had the most important ingredient. This anonymous poem speaks of that ingredient.  

No  written word, no spoken plea
Will teach our youth what they should be,
Nor all the books on all the shelves.
It’s what the teachers are themselves.

It is impossible to teach the elements of the acronym without consistent and unwavering, daily modeling.

Swen