What makes good teachers?

A New York story from Malcolm Gladwell. The short version is that “presence” (“withiness”) matters more than book knowledge.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/12/15/081215fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=1

"A group of researchers—Thomas J. Kane, an economist at Harvard’s school of education; Douglas Staiger, an economist at Dartmouth; and Robert Gordon, a policy analyst at the Center for American Progress—have investigated whether it helps to have a teacher who has earned a teaching certification or a master’s degree. Both are expensive, time-consuming credentials that almost every district expects teachers to acquire; neither makes a difference in the classroom. Test scores, graduate degrees, and certifications—as much as they appear related to teaching prowess—turn out to be about as useful in predicting success as having a quarterback throw footballs into a bunch of garbage cans."