Think back to when you were in school. Who was your favorite teacher？【小题1】 Actually, we've all had excellent teachers. A truly effective teacher will have some qualities and has a lasting impact(影响) on every student.

【小题2】 Any teacher who is not looking for new and better teaching strategies isn't being an effective teacher. No matter how long you have taught, you should always want to grow as a teacher.【小题3】Seek (寻找) out professional(专业的) development opportunities and try to apply something new to your class every year.

An effective teacher uses a variety of media in their lessons. Like it or not we are in the 21st century, and this generation of students was born in the digital(电子的) age. They have got used to it. 【小题4】This is not to say that we should throw away textbooks and worksheets completely, but effective teachers are not afraid to use other forms of media within their lessons.

An effective teacher challenges their students. The most effective teachers often challenge their students and push them harder than the average(普通的) teacher does. These are the teachers who are often students' least favorite teachers at the time, but then later on in life they are the ones that we all remember and want to thank.【小题5】It means that you challenge every one of your students so that they learn more than they ever thought they   could learn.

Writer and journalist Cristina Odone aroused widespread anger by suggesting that her daughter was being pressured to take science for graduation exams and this was unreasonable for a child with a literary bent. She even claimed that “… this focus on STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics] subjects sends a message that makes her and me uncomfortable: doing a man’s work is more impressive than doing a woman’s.”

Like many others, 【小题1】 Taking science to age 16 should simply be seen as part of obtaining a well-rounded education. Furthermore, identifying STEM as a man’s subject leads in part to our serious lack of variety in the scientific workforce. Meanwhile, many male authors and poets might be surprised to learn that literature is “woman’s work”.

Novelist Lucy Ellman once wrote, “The purpose of artists is to ask the right questions, even if we don’t find the answers, whereas the aim of science is to prove some silly points.” But proving some silly points might save your life, light your home, allow you to surf the web or visit your relatives living far away.【小题2】

However, having said that, I am not trying to denigrate the work of the humanities. I do not see this as an either/or situation but it’s all part of being human. I admire and appreciate those who try to express things hard to be described in words, but it simply isn’t my strength. I may wholeheartedly believe that science is vital but that doesn’t mean I think the humanities (or indeed the social sciences) are not.【小题3】 That statement is not equal to saying that the humanities should not be properly funded. Somehow, we are constantly being put in opposition, a divide that is damaging to both scientists and non-scientists.

【小题4】I would say it is exactly because I am human. I sit here typing listening to a Schubert piano trio. I have been reading EP Thompson’s The Making of the English Working Class to try to understand how our society was and is the shape it is. Scientists may be capable of dealing with the ethic of their work, but they cannot and should not answer the question of whether we should do this in isolation.

Handing power tools over to young students could result in some disastrous situations. But if those tools are combined with effective supervision and teaching, the students can learn valuable new skills and might even find a new career path.

One such program, in Washington, D. C., aims to teach woodworking and finished carpentry skills to teens and young adults. It includes a woodshop, completely housed inside a truck, which acts as a kind of “classroom on wheels.”

The Mobile Woodshop program was started by the nonprofit Zenith Community Arts Foundation. Margery Goldberg, Zenith's director, is an artist, wood sculptor, She had long dreamed of creating a mobile woodshop to asst students. That dream finally came true in 2020, when the city gave her. a large grant for the program. Goldberg believes woodshop programs can help prepare the next generation of woodworkers.

Students at Ballou can learn the same skills as a beginning carpenter would. These include cutting, marking, measuring, nailing and how to use different tools. The truck is equipped with all the instructional materials and tools necessary to operate as a complete mobile classroom. Mobile workstations are also available so students can work on projects outside the truck.

If students pass the class, they can seek to enter the union apprenticeship (学徒) program Instead of a usual four-year apprenticeship, graduates of the mobile woodshop can finish in less time.

Joe Largess is a teacher at the woodshop. He said much of the class centers on teaching students “soft skills” These are skills that are desirable in all jobs, such as teamwork, being able to follow instructions and arriving to work on time. Students also learn basic skills like math and how to read a ruler.

Largess said the class at Ballou seeks “to help some people who wouldn’t have the chance to even get into the apprenticeship program, and give them a leg up”. That, he added, can “hopefully help them with a better future”.