A good teacher, a great teacher and Moby Dick walk into a bar

The difference between a good teacher and a great teacher is more than solely connecting to students (although building a strong relationship with them is ideal), or being extraordinarily passionate about content (although dressing up as David Copperfield could be fun). It is providing students a space in which to practice their skills with the support they need?to become successful readers. A good teacher may take note of their students' reading levels and provide books at their Lexile.?Yet, a successful teacher would take one step further in the assessment of the same student. They would not only provide material that may be challenging, but offer support (Universal Design Model). In this way, the student can not only practice reading and researching at a higher level (with higher gains), but have access to tools for academic achievement. For example, a teacher provides a student with audio texts, or gives explicit instruction on how to use database systems, and the tools that help support neuro-diverse learners. The great teacher knows their students, by formatively assessing them daily to come to these conclusions.

Personally, it irks me that so many humanities teachers fail to see struggling reader's needs and somehow these teachers believe that these learners will pull through. Even students who may have graduated from high school with decent marks, may need some reading support with complex texts at the university level.

Hey, what about Moby Dick?

Moby Dick was excruciatingly painful for me to read. My professor offered in-depth analysis (in her lectures) about the book which was helpful,?but the full comprehension of the text seemed far off for a student like me who has attention difficulties. As dynamic as good old megalomaniacal Ahab was, it didn't pull me into the story. So, I checked out ten pounds of literary analysis (pre-internet days) on Melville which helped me enormously. I would read summaries and viewpoints on each section of the book and then re-read the text. It took hours to acquire this novel (I wanted to harpoon the whale myself at this point). Oh and I wasn't green when it came to literature. I was in graduate school, and I still struggled with this enormous text about rebel whales. In the end I kind of liked the book especially when I found out it was bar in San Francisco.

To give her some slack, my professor was an old school lecture- based instructor, which I respect on some level. Her intense love for literature really did make her a good teacher. However, she could have offered articles or non-fiction content to build background knowledge about the historical aspect of the book, so I could know what the heck a coracle was used for in the book or the concept of a quahog (well I know that since I am from New England, but you know what I mean). To end, a good teacher is passionate about the content and provides some support to help their students learn. Yet, a successful teacher offers a curriculum in the model of Universal Design, thereby, not dumbing down text, but raising up complexity so that all can access great literature such as Melville's classic existential tale of a man struggling at sea.