Traits Shared By Great Teachers
Although being an educator of young minds does come with its benefits and rewards, it can also be quite a daunting task knowing that their hopes, dreams and exam grades rest on the quality of your teaching and interaction. Many may fear that they aren’t doing as good a job as they hoped. However, being a successful teacher does not just boil down to you getting all the facts, statistics and information into their head in time for the examination, it is also about the way you handle and deal with your classes.
Step one, keep the desire for your profession alive because in order for you to succeed, you must first truly want it. Teaching can be a draining profession, both physically and mentally, and if you aren’t putting enough effort into it, the effects will start to show in your classroom. When you are just educating to earn the money, then you lose your effectiveness.
Step two, constantly be yourself within the classroom. The student will instantly know whether you are trying to hard and they will become more judgemental than ever. Try to find a balance between authoritative and friendly as you want to give off the impression that students can easily approach you with a problem or question, but you don’t want to let them walk all over you.
Step three, prepare! It is extremely important that you arrive to class on time and with a fully thought out lesson plan in your head. If you are new to planning lessons, then lesson plan templates are available online to help start you off and organize your time. You must also be prepared for your plans to fail or for them to not go entirely according to plan. This is a learning curve that you will come to know and expect, but it happens to even the best teachers. The most effective solution is to learn how to deal with them when interruptions do arise.
Step four, make your classes all about the students. This can be difficult to remember considering that teachers possess the power in a classroom. It is important to remember that students are extremely significant to our future society. Try to build their confidence whenever you can. Offer them constructive criticism and positive reinforcement, but also giving reasons why these are beneficial. Give out praise as often as you can, but don’t lie, as untruthful praise will do more harm than good. Don’t move on with a lesson until you are sure that every single student understands the concept. If after further explanation, they still don’t grasp what you are saying, then offer them the chance to undertake some extra time after school to work with you. This provides them with an opportunity to ask questions that they may have been too scared to ask in front of their classmates. Treat each student as the individual they are, remembering that they each have a unique learning style that needs to be catered for.
And finally, be consistent in your classroom framework. This gets the students, and yourself comfortable in a routine. Some things such as detentions and other methods of discipline are already enforced by school rules and policies. But as a new teacher, it is important for you to sit down and think about the framework you want to enforce in your class. To help you do this, try and think of things from the student’s point of view.
Cris Styles is editor for Teachnology’s elementary math worksheets and lessons areas. Teachnology helps millions of K-12 teachers and homeschoolers every month by providing free printable educator and homeschool resources.
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