So just the other day I was in a conference and the discussion was all about what it takes to become a good teacher and we spent the best part of three hours discussing this and so I thought I'd write a very quick blog post or article to cover what we discussed during a conference because I think it was an interesting discussion.

Teaching is profession whereby you can be as knowledgeable about the subject matter as you like but if you cannot communicate that knowledge in a way that people understand then there's absolutely no point in being a teacher. Teaching is all about putting ideas and theories and methodology across to students in a way that they understand and are happy to learn.

So what's really important when you become teachers to understand basic human psychology. For instance not many people are very much interested in mathematics problem but if you bring that into a real-life scenario whereby the students can relate then all of a sudden everybody is interested in what you have to say -- and of course that's the number one priority if you're a teacher everybody needs to be interested in what you have to say.

But more than this the conversation then moved on to the subject of sense of humour which is a very interesting argument beakers somebody was trying to why you that a sense of humour just didn't have any role in the classroom and that having a laugh or teaching should be should be forbidden. And I'm from a very different perspective on this beakers I remember teaches that I had back in the day; I remember the ones that would crack their face if they laughed and I remember others that I thoroughly got on well with and had a joke with. And I have to say I learnt a lot more from those that I got on well with

And that's basic human psychology -- it's very similar to buying habits; we only buy from people that we feel we can trust. Human beings are inherently an emotional being -- we like to think that we are logical beings the instances occur every single day to prove that role. We buy from a motion, we date from a motion, our decisions are made by our emotions and yet we justify everything from logic. So therefore it stands to reason that we are going to get on better and resonate with a teacher that we are in some way and emotionally attached to -- in other words if we like our teachers we stand a much better chance of learning from

The last point was raised in a meeting was that of resourcefulness and preparation beakers in a classroom environment where there is limited time to get information across there needs to be structure and preparation to make sure that no time is wasted and that the curriculum is seen through.

Teaching is actually quite an art form and if I look back at the best teaches that shaped my career I remember those that I got on well with -- the organised, prepared, understood human psychology and how to get things across in this simple fashion that the whole class could understand -- and this is what makes a good teacher, it has nothing to do with how knowledgeable or not you are on the subject matter.