7 qualities of a good Teacher
what are the qualities of a teacher? Create tension – but just the right amount. Donald Norman
Who is a teacher?
A teacher is not only a person who passes knowledge in the four corners of a classroom or a
formal gathering but is a person who helps children and other persons progress in life.
Teaching is known to be a noble profession. Thus, it is not surprising that it is the
genesis of this popular saying that teachers can only be rewarded by God. A few days
ago, I listened to a program online, and, in that show, they discussed that teachers
shouldn’t be seen as gods.
From the lady’s standpoint, nobody is perfect and we all have to make mistakes and
teachers are no exception.
Honestly, I agree with the lady and am sure she said this based on the experiences she has
had with some persons known as teachers.
Back in school, I recall hating a particular subject passionately because of the teacher’s
approach to teaching my classmates and me. My teacher didn’t only make me hate the
subject, he also made me lose confidence in myself. I never thought I could ever
perform well or have good grades in that subject and, it took a long while before the
effect of that wrong teaching approach faded from my mind. It begs the question, what
are the qualities of a good teacher?
7 Qualities of a good teacher
Patience
Imagine teaching a child a topic and a thorough explanation was given during the
teaching. unfortunately, when it was time to answer the question, he/she starts to look
confused. This can get frustrating, right? Totally! Who won’t be frustrated after all that
hard work to make something clear? However, here is where the quality of a good
teacher comes in, patience. A good teacher must understand that their pupil or student
may still be struggling to figure out what to do and what not to do and it is ideal as a
teacher to exercise patience because, without it, your efforts to teach would end up
being in vain.
Stays Consistent
As soon as you start having favorites amongst your students or pupils, they are going to
sense this and lose all iota of respect for you. It’s not wrong to prefer a student to the
other, but the moment you do this because you feel that student A is doing better than
student B, you are indirectly crushing student B’s self-esteem, and sooner, they would
accept the fate you’ve given them and lose all respect they have for you. So you need to be
consistent.
Professionalism
You are supposed to be their teacher and not their friend. It’s nice to be friendly, but that
shouldn’t be your number one objective. If you make it your number one objective, you will
eventually lose them. There must be a balance while being consistent with the students. You
must be as professional as possible. You should not mix outdoor life with school life,
personal information should be kept personal. If there was an event you encountered in
your personal life and it relates to what you’re teaching, then, by all means, you can
share but it shouldn’t go beyond that.
Communication Skills
There are a lot of people you need to communicate with and you need to do it in very different
ways. Most days, you may be talking with the students, but sometimes, you would be talking
with colleagues, administrators, and parents. You need to talk to these people in different ways,
be very respectful, and get across your point. If you cannot communicate well, there is no
guarantee that you would be able to explain a topic to the students.
Ask for help when necessary
I mentioned earlier, a person who said teachers shouldn’t be seen as gods. Her reason
was different, but, here is another reason why I agree with that statement. In my view,
they may be well informed, but this does not mean they know everything. As a teacher,
you should be prepared to seek support when you need it. Don’t think you should keep
pushing yourself harder because you feel like you hit a brick wall. Rather, be prepared
to seek help, you can go to a guidance counselor. Seeking help is one of the qualities a
good teacher should possess.
Mastering the topics
As a good teacher, you should have a thorough knowledge of the subject you need to
take a class, otherwise, it would be impossible to teach students. The knowledge you
should pass to the students does not need to come from books alone, but, outside
books too in a way that brings about the curiosity of students and makes them excited
to learn.
Creativity & Imagination
A good teacher must be creative and being creative doesn’t mean doing something new but
doing the same thing in new ways. According to Steve Jobs Creativity is just connecting
things.
When you ask creative people how they do something, they feel guilty because they didn’t do it,
they just saw something.” It seemed obvious to them after a while” Albert Einstein also said that
Imagination is more important than knowledge
Conclusively, possessing the qualities of a good Teacher means being a good human being and, must teach what they do. They should
keep in mind that the student will not only do what they are taught but, will do what they
see their teacher doing. Being a good role model for students can help them succeed
and be happier.
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