Elaine MacDonald Quotes

I think a lot of teachers want to talk about how to continually improve performance.

Teachers need to be comfortable talking about feelings.

We're not trying to be the only route into teaching. We do put enormous energy into understanding what differentiates the most successful teachers.

We expert teachers know that motivation and emotional impact are what matter.

I do think we know that a teacher who knows what he or she is doing, knows their subject matter, and knows how to impart knowledge to kids is a critical piece of closing the achievement gap.

We are working essentially to build a leadership force of folks who will, during their first two years of teaching, actually put their kids on a different trajectory - not just survive as a new teacher, but actually help close the achievement gap for their kids.

The simple facts are these: We need higher standards in our schools, and we need to hold teachers accountable for the outcomes in their classrooms.

Both of my sisters have been teachers and they used to say you get asked between 300 and 600 questions every day which you have to answer. That's exactly what directing is. And the vast majority of those questions are not very interesting really, but they need somebody to make a decision - a good one or a bad one - and they follow it.

I tell young teachers who are determined to dissent from some of the Draconian aspects of the current orthodoxy that the best form of protection is to be incredibly good at what you do and keep good discipline in class.

Teaching is a good distraction, and I am in contact with young people, which is very gratifying.

Teaching is the only major occupation of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance. In teaching we rely on the 'naturals', the ones who somehow know how to teach.

There is no recipe to be a great teacher, that's what is unique about them.

We need to do teacher training to educate them about what temperament means. Shyness is painful and you want to help a child with shyness - but the underlying temperament of being a careful, sensitive person is to be honoured, valued and respected.

So what does a good teacher do? Create tension - but just the right amount.

Study after study affirms what I saw in the classroom every day as superintendent of Denver Public Schools: Nothing makes a bigger difference for student learning than great teaching.

To this end the greatest asset of a school is the personality of the teacher.

I wasn't a very good teacher.

Fear is not a good teacher. The lessons of fear are quickly forgotten.

There is no education system in the world - none at all - that's better than its average teacher.

Good teachers know how to bring out the best in students.

Teacher compensation isn't the only factor in cultivating great teaching. Other important priorities include changing how we measure student performance, providing more flexibility to teacher-preparation programs, and improving how we train and support principals.

The main thing I am interested in is my experience as a teacher.

Teachers say their schools of education did not adequately prepare them for the classroom. They would have welcomed more mentoring and feedback in their early years.

Effective teacher support in my mind is the same thing as effective management. Our teachers need strong management, just like anyone in any profession.

I'd like to think I'm a great teacher.