characteristics of a teacher (discussion 1)

According to Jessica Bohn being a good leader isn't about having power over others, but about instilling power in others. A leader is define by oxford advanced learner's dictionary as a person who leads group of people, especially the head of a country, an organisation, etc.

In the book Matilda by Roald Dahl  it is quite the opposite of what Jessica Bohn is saying because the headmistress ( Miss runchbull) of the school Crunchem hall primary school is doing the opposite of what is expected from her as a leader in the school. Miss Trunchbull was suppose to lead by example, become a pillar of strength of the school and instill characteristics of good leadership in her student, but instead she is harsh, arrogant, extremely cruel and dictator who hates and terrorize children.
In one of the scene in the book Miss Trunchbull shows an aggressive behaviour by holding Amanda Thripp with her ponytail hair which is an inappropriate behaviour of an educator to do especially Miss Trunchbull since she is a headmistress, In the South African constitution and the government gazette it is stated that any misbehaving learner the teacher has a right to discipline that learner but that does not give educators the right to punish learners with violent and learners should not be punished because of their parents faults but Miss Trunchbull punish Matilda because her dad sold her a faulty car and the only way Mrs Trunchbull deals with bad behaviour is by hurting student both physically and emotionally. miss Trunchbull also abuse learners

According to Lev Vygotsky (1978) educators and parents(tutors) plays an important role in the development of a child as social contributors in the process of the child's development, much important learning by the child  occur through interaction with a skillful tutor ( educators and parents) that is why as training teachers we are taught to be caring, accountable and critically reflective teachers who support and nurture learning in diverse education context. we are taught to be a caring teacher  by respecting student and make sure that each student's opinion is valued in the classroom, a caring teacher does not like to take power like Miss Trunchbull, allowing difference in the classroom just like Miss Honey did by making sure that she brought books from the higher grade for Matilda and told the others not to worry they will know what Matilda already knows. A caring teacher also respect his/ her colleagues, unlike miss Trunchbull who does not respect her colleague miss honey, beside from being taught to be a caring teacher I have gone an extra mile in to reading an article about characteristics of a good teacher by Patricia Miller (http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ971241.pdf) this article has taught me a lot about being a caring teacher. we are also taught to be an accountable teacher, accountability is an inheritance of teaching, we teachers are accountable of making sure our learners succeed in their education unlike Mrs Trunchbull who wish the were no kids in the school because she hates them, we teachers are accountable of our learners progress just like miss Honey who felt she needs to see Matilda's parent about their child's great performance. we  have to support and nurture learning in a diverse educational context this means we have to see ourselves from our students perspectives because students are interpreting and learning in just the way we anticipated.

Teacher and principals like Misss Trunchbull are the main reason the level of education in our country is declining and the is high rate of school dropout students because behind every great school is a caring principal, if  the school principal is strong, motivated and a good manager who clearly outlines expectations for staff and students then the school tend to make progress. Below is Guide I recommend to leaders like Miss Trunchbull, maybe if they could read this guide the education system in south Africa could change,pass rate will increase and the will be less dropout of student from school. here is the guide

• THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AS LEADER: GUIDING SCHOOLS TO BETTER TEACHING AND LEARNING by the Wallace foundation or go to http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/Documents/The-School-Principal-as-Leader-Guiding-Schools-to-Better-Teaching-and-Learning-2nd-Ed.pdf

Always remember that you can have a great teacher,but if you don't have a good principal you won't have a good school.

REFERENCES

Bohn J.,(2013). educational leadership. first years hurdles

 Dahl R.,(1998). Matilda. Jonathan Cape in London

 HORBY, A. S., (2010). Oxford advanced learner's dictionary of current English. London, Oxford University Press.

Vygotsky,L. (1978). mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press