GOATs

Greatest of All Time. This term has largely become synonymous in recent years with the best athletes in a sport, but the same logic applies equally well to any discipline one might master - music, medicine, technological innovation, leadership, artistry, cooking, and on and on. And while we can and do argue legitimately between our respective favorites within any given category of GOAT, the truth is that we can likely agree that all of these top-of-the-tops are collective standard-bearers of excellence in their respective fields. So, let us consider our personal GOATs of education…

How many truly amazing, inspiring teachers or professors have you had in your life?

I frequently ask this question of others and find that most people cannot count past their fingers on one hand. Can you? If you can, consider yourself fortunate.

With boundless gratitude then, I list here in chronological order (rather than by rank, since I hold them all in equally high esteem), my GOAT teachers:

Mrs. Bea Berkin - 2nd and 3rd grade

Her compassion, warmth and patience got me reading, writing and fully embracing school. She helped forge the bedrock of my education.

Mrs. Sarah Wallace - 9th grade English

Until her class, English had largely meant book reports. She saw us each as individuals, but also as a learning collective in her crafty care, propelling us on a journey of connection and discovery through the written word. What’s more, her caring but no-nonsense approach meant you could not hide out in class. In this boat, everyone had to row.

Professor Paul Feyerabend - Classic Greek Philosophy?

I never knew that a subject which I initially believed to be foreign and ancient could be brought to life and made so very personal until I succumbed to the spell of this acclaimed ‘radical philosopher’. His aging and frail physical demeanor completely belied his immense intellectual inertia and deft at drawing people from their shells.

Professor Donald Oliver - Principles of Curriculum and Pedagogy

His promise (or threat) to give the class over to us students halfway into the semester “had me at ‘Hello’”, and he remained true to his word. His risk became our reward. I learned more from my peers and our desire to challenge ourselves and one another than I could ever have imagined. Don was an instigator, a master facilitator, and a thoroughly kind individual.

Professor Seymour Papert - The Future of Education

Like a sweet and slightly zany uncle, he had a natural way of disarming you such that you would dissolve your academic preconceptions, let down your inhibitions to speak your truth, and fully embrace the constructivist approach to learning. He was at the same time an inspiration to us all and even more zestful for the inspiration that we could each bring to his own thinking and that of our peers.??

Collectively, these educators all shared the following traits:

• Passion for their subject: To be a GOAT educator, it’s not enough just to be knowledgeable. I’ve studied under Nobel laureates who justifiably deserved the recognition for their research prowess, but as lecturers they bored me to tears. Books, electronic media, and now AI make vast amounts of human knowledge easily accessible and digestible, yet cannot do for most students what a great teacher can do, which is to embody their genuine, personal passion and curiosity for a topic. In doing so, these GOATs invite us closer, with the hope that their energy may spark a similar passion in each of us for their favorite topic, and for the process of learning generally.

• Open-minded, Socratic, even provocative: Each of my GOAT teachers held a twinkle in their eye. Not one of them was content with simply following their syllabus and covering all the standards. That was just table stakes to them (or the mission of the administration). The real prize for each seemed to be in how we would react to their more engaging approaches, and how we might take up their challenges. They were always alert within every class period, almost waiting for a student to push back, suggest an alternative viewpoint, or reach an ‘aha’ moment. They were not seeking to fill up our cups as much as to hand us the pitcher so that we could do the pouring.

• Tough but fair: Developmental psychology suggests that children need clear and solid boundaries to succeed. I found this truth was held closely by each of my GOATs, who kept me to task whenever it was called for. They learned quickly what I was capable of, and were not willing to let me skate by. For their pushing me to realize my potential, I am ever grateful. While a tough approach by other teachers may have come across as indiscriminate level-setting, or even worse, as Machiavellian, these GOATs all enrolled us in the challenge at hand. And if I ever needed more persuasion, they were happy to further discuss their rationale and bring me around. They displayed empathy and compassion for every student who put in the effort, but they were no softies.

• Extended their lessons beyond the walls of the classroom: My GOATs all found a way to ask, even demand, that each student make our learning personal. This required me to risk of myself, to reveal some of my person to the teacher, the TA, and my classmates. Only later was I to realize the power of those real-world connections being formed. By these lessons having some grounding in my own life and experience, they have gone on to inform my pedagogical approaches to app development, my comprehension of major world events through the lens of power dynamics, and even to influence my spiritual beliefs of an afterlife.

These are my truths, as I have experienced them. Yours surely differed. So, now I ask you…

Think of your own schooling journey through whatever level of high school, undergraduate or postgraduate studies you may have completed:

• Who were your truly amazing, inspiring teachers and professors?
• Why and how did they make a difference for you?

Thank you in advance for giving a shout out to your own GOAT teachers!