Top 10 Traits of an Ideal Teacher According to Dean Giustini

Dean Giustini is a Reference Librarian at Biomedical Branch Library, University of British Columbia, the author of UBC Google Scholar blog and a "Medicine 2.0 celebrity" (not shown in the picture). According to Dean, an ideal teacher is:

1. Humanistic - cares about his/her students.

2. Clear - establishes clear and transparent guidelines for assessment, and clear expectations.

3. Makes you feel hopeful and praises your attempts to learn.

4. Cares about your individual goals and makes a commitment to help you reach them.

5. Empathic, caring and knowledgeable - and has the skills to impart what is important.

6. Stimulates critical thinking and infuses the joy of learning.

7. Passionate about the subject and shares that with students.

8. Can take students to a new place intellectually.

9. Listens, inspires, motivates - and knows when to use humor.

10. Learner and an observer of others.

This is a great list which applies to medical education. I wish I were able to fulfill at least 3-4 of those when teaching medical students and residents. Robert Centor who has a much greater teaching experience than me may be able to add more to the list.

References:
Top Ten (10) Traits of an Ideal Teacher. UBC Academic Search - Google Scholar Blog.
Image source: A primary school teacher in northern Laos, Wikipedia, public domain.