The first factor is the ratio of wanting to help students to risk aversion . Teachers with a high ratio are more likely to become increasingly engaged in the learning process over time. The second factor is the ratio of wanting to help students learn a subject to wanting to make a name for themselves in the discipline . Again, the higher the ratio, the more likely the teacher will be engaged in the learning process. The third factor is the level of confidence in one's own ability to learn something outside their field of expertise .
Teachers are more likely to try new things if they believe that they can learn.
Three experienced teachers told me they can't sleep the night before the semester starts because they are anxious about the first day of class. They believe they are capable of learning how to teach better even when nothing they try works the first time. Some describe themselves as tenacious or driven by passion for becoming a good teacher. Most teachers I talked to agreed that universities do little to prepare students in any purposeful way to become teachers. Quite by accident, one might have the experience of taking a course from a truly great teacher, but even these great teachers rarely teach as though they were preparing future teachers for the profession.