Tuesday, October 4, 2011

The Making of a Great Teacher


A closer look at some of the top teachers at Gateway Public Schools was well overdue.

The teaching model of the public charter High School in San Francisco has long since been nationally renowned -- small class sizes, emphasis on college prep and a comprehensive out-of-class tutoring program that helps students get ahead. That model helped attract an oversized pool of families to apply for spots in its middle school, which opened in fall.

But less known are the idiosyncrasies of the school's outstanding teaching staff. In this video, four teachers describe the arc of their career as educators, the challenges and uncertainties they faced along the way and the success stories that ultimately came of them. We see how even the best teachers were once rookies, at times overwhelmed or out-of-place, and how their own learning curves instilled unique teaching styles and passion to work with children.