Are your teaching capabilities tried, true, and terrific? Here’s a check-list.
1. Terrific teachers adore teaching!
The most significant quality in a teacher’s possession is an undying fire and love for teaching their students. Sadly, some educators don’t enjoy their work. This problem alone can ruin a teacher’s ability to teach faster than a student losing their ability to respect said teacher. Apathetic teachers or teachers who downright loathe their job cannot be successful in their position. Many discouraging issues in the education field exist that are tough enough already on terrific teachers, let alone on one who does not have the motivation, desire, or interest for it. Besides, we can’t forget that even children are cleverer than we think they are. They’ll see a faker sooner than most, and it won’t take long before they topple any respectful standing that teacher had.
2. Terrific teachers care about their students!
Finding the time to understand one’s students on an individual basis takes considerable loyalty and time. It’s important not to cross any lines while coming to understand each student’s strengths, weaknesses, and needs. Truly terrific teachers know how to stay within appropriate boundaries while helping their students be all that they can be.
3. Terrific teachers connect with their students.
The greatest teachers go out of their way to connect with their students. Finding common ground with some students will be tough, but terrific teachers will discover how to make that connection with their students, even if it pains them. For example, you might have a student with an extensive Barbie collection. How do you make a connection there? Well, maybe the only thing you know about Barbie dolls is that each one has a different job. Maybe you can use that to encourage your student to think of what careers they might be interested in.
4. Terrific teachers think creatively!
There’s no such thing as a lesson plan assembly line or cookie cutter method of teaching. Can you imagine how bored everyone would be if there was? Teaching is fun because every student learns and absorbs information on a different level than other students. Teaching something only one way will be a hit-and-miss game. Teachers need to be prepared to be adaptive and innovative in their own lessons on a day-to-day basis. If you try to instruct your students every subject in the exact same style, some students will end up failing to grasp vital elements of the lesson because they aren’t wired to learn like that.
5. Terrific teachers are excellent communicators!
To be the most excellent teacher you can be, you must be able to communicate effectively. Yet, it’s not just students you have to be able to communicate with; you also have to know how to communicate to parents and other teachers and staff within the education setting. Any difficulty communicating with one group will restrict your abilities as a teacher.
6. Terrific teachers act, not react!
A solid plan of action can be the difference between failure and success. Planning ahead and actively seeking solutions to problems will lead to less of a headache in the long-run. Consequently, teachers who wait until trouble starts to tackle a problem will face greater difficulties. Being pro-active doesn’t replace being adaptive, however. Surprises happen, no matter how hard you try to plan for them. Still, being pro-active can reduce these surprises significantly, thus helping you be a more terrific teacher overall.
7. Terrific teachers believe in improving themselves!
Anyone who isn’t searching for brand new and improved teaching strategies is not being a terrific teacher. However long you’ve been in the education field, you should need to continue to develop your skills as a teacher. Information and technology is advancing every year in almost every field, and the field of education is no exception. Look for chances to develop yourself on a professional level and try to use something new for your course each year.
8. Terrific teachers use a variety of media in the classroom!
Whatever your views on the new technology of this day and age, there’s no denying we’re in the digital information age. Students these days are bombarded by technological improvements and the newest thing more than any other generation before them. They’ve adopted this technology, and if we refuse to keep up with them, we, as teachers, will fall behind.
9. Terrific teachers challenge their students!
The best teachers tend to be the kind that most young pupils consider to be their most troublesome. The reason being they press them harder and challenge them more than a teacher who doesn’t take the time or effort to do this for them. Sometimes, the challenging teachers are the ones students like the least, but as they grow older and wiser, these teachers are the ones former students will thank and remember the most. When you prepare a student for the long, hard road ahead of them, that sticks with them. Being a terrific teacher doesn’t mean being the most popular teacher with the easiest assignments. It means optimizing your time with the students and challenging them, so they learn more and meet more of their potential.
10. Terrific teachers know their subject and know how to teach that subject!
Shockingly, some teachers don’t understand their subject well enough to actually teach it. On the other side of the spectrum, there are teachers who specialize in their subject but can’t teach it to their students for any number of reasons (poor communication, for example). Terrific teachers not only know their subject; they also know how to explain it in precise, easy to understand terms for their students. This can be a tough task to perform, but teachers who give it their all are well on their way to becoming terrific.
If you’re a teacher and looking to become a member of a group, https://www.gew-sachsen.de/mitgliedschaft/ is a great group formed by members from all educational areas from daycare centers to schools, after-school care centers, homes and independent education providers to colleges and universities.