Teaching Isn’t a Personality Contest

In Education Week Teacher’s “What Makes a Great Teacher: Pedagogy or Personality?” middle school language arts teacher and curriculum coach Ariel Sacks explores the qualities of an excellent teacher. Does the ideal teacher possess a near-perfect balance of pedagogical mastery and charming personality? Sacks says that the latter—the so-called “it factor” in teaching—is a myth: “The idea that a great personality makes a great teacher is fantasy.”

Sacks recalls observing a teacher with a vibrant personality who connected with students on the first day through shared experiences but struggled as the days wore on because she didn’t instruct in an engaging way, opting instead for dull assignments distributed by the school. The attention and respect of the students waned, and the teacher’s lively personality was not enough to yield success in her classroom…………………………...………………….……………………..