Questions: Have you ever had a good teacher? Even a great teacher? What did you like about him/her? Comment here!
I’m writing this article as a thank you to a great teacher I had in high school named Brad Vickers. He embodies what makes a good teacher and every day I’m glad he was able to teach me. He inspired me to work in the field of graphic design, and I owe a lot to him. As a tribute to his teaching abilities I am going to discuss the strengths, qualities, and criteria that make good teachers. Brad Vickers had all of these characteristics, and I hope everyone has an opportunity to be taught by a teacher as awesome as him.
In a lifetime, we may be graced with the presence of few great teachers. These people end up shaping our lives for the better because of their greatness, and we deeply admire them for that. A good teacher has many faces. They may typically be a professor or teacher in the classroom, but often they can be our family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors. It makes no difference who they are really, or what their profession, but good teachers all have one thing in common. They instill inside us values, knowledge, hopes and dreams. Once they’ve been taught to us, we are changed for the rest of our lives.
Teachers who teach for a profession have high expectations to meet. They hold our young children’s minds in their hands and mold them like pieces of fine clay. Greatness is expected from these teachers as they are responsible for helping bring our children into their adult lives. This is partly why it is important to find the characteristics that these great teachers share. If teachers are to be taught themselves, they must be taught the excellent traits of their peers before them.
Let’s take a look at the qualities that define a good teacher:
1. Love What They Do
There is no question, that awesome teachers love to teach. Not doing it for the money, prestige, or glory, they teach because it brings them an incredible feeling of satisfaction knowing they are contributing positively to the futures of others. If a teacher doesn’t have this inner satisfaction, and does not enjoy what they do, they’ll never be able to make lasting impressions in their students minds. Passion has great impact, and this is something that all really good teachers have.
2. Good Communicators
A teacher has the responsibility of bridging the gap between themselves and their students, so good communication skills are a must. It’s difficult sometimes to relate to people, especially children, so that learning can happen in their minds, but excellent teachers are masters of this. Relating to students on the student’s level, these teachers have developed many ways to reach their students, and communicate using terrific speaking skills, visual aids, and even in their body language.
In order for a teacher to be great, they must be admirable. These teachers lead lives of high moral ground, and they set an example to their students because of it. Really though, admirable teachers are more credible than others. We as people are much more likely to listen to those we admire, because we wish to be like them. Models of who we would like to someday be, really good teachers help show us the way.
4. Positive Reinforcement
Instead of using strict punishment to discipline students, good teachers know how to use positive reinforcement to discipline instead. These teachers understand that negatively hinders how their students learn, creates resentment in the students minds, and ends up breaking the ties of the student-teacher relationship. Often these teachers reward their students for doing a good job, so they are more apt to doing it in the future.
5. Fair & Just
Equality is an ideal that good teachers hold dear to themselves. They treat their students equally, yet giving them the individual attention they need. No child is left out in the mind of a wonderful teacher, and they make it a mission to teach them all the same. In doing so, they end up teaching their students the importance of equality and fair treatment, even if the teacher hadn’t intended