As a self-taught teacher I have thought and read a lot about the role of the teacher, and have discovered that something I do well, is to see the good and best in people, to see them as people who can outperform what they are doing and then I speak to that part of them, demand it even.
And they rise to the occasion every time.
As outsiders when we started Nairobits, we weren’t aware of the negative connotations that people from slum areas and backgrounds might have of themselves or each other, so we didn’t speak to them like that but just as young people who of course could be come great web- designers, they just had to apply themselves. Later on I began to apply that belief and expectation consciously.

One is never only where they are born, but is always also all the possibilities and dreams they have too. And if another sees that in you, you begin to belive it for yourself and make it more possible. So education and teachers need to see that part of their students and speak to that part of them in order to illicit it. This applies to small chidlren, teenagers and adults, it’s a universal.
Converse with the better part of someone’s nature, with their aspirations and they will materialise before you.

I found this talk from Victor Fankly, who says the same,
https://www.ted.com/talks/viktor_frankl_youth_in_search_of_meaning
This man survived the holocaust in germany and became a well know pyscho-therapist.