“When teachers are asked to explain why they favor certain approaches frequently they evidence their choice of method, for instance, by reference to a formative experience of their own, whether it be a positive one which they seek to emulate for their students or a negative one which they strive to avoid reiterating for others” (Brookfield, 198).

 

“In some situations a person might display a mastery orientation (for example, when engaged in a favorite hobby) and in other situations the same person might display a performance orientation (for example, during an exam). Of course, nothing in psychology is ever so easily divided into two types, and subsequent theorists came to assert that these two orientations were not opposed to each other on the same continuum but rather that a person could have both types of orientations even within the same situation” (Svinicki, 2).

 

“Outstanding Teachers Know their Subjects Well…They are also able to simplify complex topics of the discipline” (McKinney, 1).

 

“In every story I have heard, good teachers share one trait: a strong sense of personal identity infuses their work. ‘Dr. A is really there when she teaches,’ a student tells me, or ‘Mr. B has such enthusiasm for his subject,’ or ‘You can tell that this is really Prof. C’s life.’” (Palmer).

 

“Good teachers join self, subject, and students in the fabric of life because they teach from an integral and undivided self; they manifest in their own lives, and evoke in their students, a ‘capacity for connectedness.’ They are able to weave a complex web of connections between themselves, their subjects, and their students, so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves. The methods used by these weavers vary widely: lectures, Socratic dialogues, laboratory experiments, collaborative problem-solving, creative chaos. The connections made by good teachers are held not in their methods but in their hearts–meaning heart in its ancient sense, the place where intellect and emotion and spirit and will converge in the human self” (Palmer).