Teaching is hard work and some teachers never grow to be anything better than mediocre. Some of them do the bare minimum required and very little more. The great teachers, however, work tirelessly to create a challenging and also nurturing environment for their students. Great teaching seems to have less to do with our knowledge and skills than with our attitude toward our students, our subject, and also towards our work.
A good teacher can make a world of difference in a student’s life, impacting everything from their classroom learning to their long-term success. If you’re considering a career in education, it is important to explore the qualities of a good teacher. These are at least 5 good qualities of a teacher that you should have.
Picture: The Irish Times
1) Good Knowledge Of And Passion For Teaching
Passion is infectious. Love of a subject matter inspires a person to learn more, dig deeper, and think harder about it, so passion inspires deeper knowledge. The best teachers are those that clearly love their subjects and pass that passion and desire to learn more on to their students. When the teacher not only has the right answer to a student’s question but can expand the discussion with vivid examples, amusing illustrative anecdotes, and relevant facts, and when the teacher has a deep well of understanding and expertise to draw on, then every lesson is enriched, and every student might be inspired.
2) Excellent Communication Skills
If a teacher’s communication skills are good, they can convey knowledge with better skill and results. Since a large part of good communication is knowing when the audience has understood, these teachers notice when they have communicated effectively and when they have not. They will often paraphrase, illustrate, or take another tact entirely when it becomes apparent that their communication has fallen flat or has not reached or connected to the entire class.
3) Develop Strong Relationships With Students
A great teacher doesn’t only teach from the head. In the best classrooms, hearts are involved, as well. In order to create successful learning environments, great teachers need to be able to build caring relationships with their students. It is the caring student-teacher relationship that facilitates the exchange of information. The best teachers are often the ones that care the most deeply, not only about their jobs but about every student they serve.
4) Superior Listening Skills
Good teachers also happen to be excellent listeners. Of course, effective communication only happens when at least two parties are actively involved in the process together, and the only way to know if communication is heard is by asking and listening to the answer. So in an ideal learning environment, teachers ask important questions and then actively, carefully, empathetically listen to what learners have to say. When good teachers develop this patient quality in themselves, they start to become great.
5) Have Strong Work Ethic
Anyone who’s done it knows that teaching is one of the hardest jobs there is. The secret that keeps them going is that great teachers really, really want to be great teachers, and they’ll stop at nothing to succeed. A great teacher will do almost anything to help their students. They always make time and they’re always willing to help. If something doesn’t work, they’ll work tirelessly until they find a solution. A teacher’s work is never done but the best ones never stop trying, they never quit.
Sources: Prodigy.
