unteacher

Noun

unteacher (plural unteachers)

1. (derogatory) A popular teacher who focuses on fun activities but lacks pedagogical rigor.
   • “Dawson the Doubter,” he calls himself; by this epithet we understand he takes pride in being known — that is a very good quality for an Unteacher, scarcely a recommendation for a teacher .1856, The Lamps of the Temple, page 452
   • Artful teachers, in the pay of this unteacher, may do a great deal of mischief to the rising generation.1969, The Poor Man's Guardian, page 52
2. Someone who helps others unlearn or overcome unhealthy social conditioning.
   • But I love my unteachers — the feminist thinkers and writers and talkers and poets and artists and singers and critics and friends, from Wollstonecraft and Woolf through the furies and glories of the seventies and eighties […]1995, Corinna S. Hasbach, The House that Feminist Imagination Builds
   • An un-teacher, hopefully—and it is a difficult task that I embark upon, playfully— an un-teacher, hopefully, lets you lead yourselves toward the freedom of your being.2006, Susan M. Watkins, Conversations With Seth
3. One who guides students in self-directed learning, a teacher involved in unschooling.
   • I call myself an unteacher. When you do well in my class you get a balloon that reads, " From your unteacher for being a good unstudent."1983, Rex Gamble, Believe in Yourself, page 107
   • I had become the unteacher. My students were students of themselves; the real teacher was the painting process.1996, Michele Cassou, Stewart Cubley, Life, Paint and Passion: Reclaiming the Magic of Spontaneous