Seven Top Qualities of an Excellent Teacher

There is a huge distinction between becoming a teacher and becoming a good teacher. Good teachers leave their impact on a student’s life. They encourage their learners to engage in lifelong learning lessons and help change the lives of children of any age. 

Teaching is an honorable and righteous profession. While you may think you are a good teacher, there is always room for improvement. A few traits such as story telling can help you become a more efficient teacher. 

Every teacher has their unique ways of dealing with different kinds of students. Successful teachers help different students with unique approaches. Following this method, teachers can help many students from diverse backgrounds. Nevertheless, some characteristics make a good teacher excellent. 

Great teachers must have the following characteristics:

1. Positivity

A positive attitude towards students is the most important characteristic of an excellent teacher. With positivity in your behavior, you can win the hearts of many students and motivate them to develop the desire to learn. Do not be authoritative in front of your student, and always calm yourself first before dealing with them. Teaching is a challenging profession, but you can enjoy it by organizing different activities to engage students. Activities are the best way to create a student-teacher bond. Always try to be innovative and make the subject you are teaching interesting to them.

Your education is key to acquiring more success in the field of education. An online MS in Educational C&I Program can help you excel in this career and take up leadership roles in the future. 

2. Fully Equipped

Preparation is key to making each lesson a success. You should read about the topic beforehand and outline what you will teach. Never enter the classroom without being prepared or half-prepared about the topic you’re about to teach. This might divert the students’ attention, and they will lose interest in your subject. Think about new strategies to make the topic clearer to students. You should be aware of the course material and tell students to do the same.  

3. Understanding

Having great insight into your student’s needs is imperative to become a great teacher. To be a teacher, students can easily connect with it is important to understand the traits of each of your students. You need to pay attention to each student’s strengths and weaknesses. Having an accurate understanding of where your students need help and where they can shine helps you pay attention to those lackings and eliminate them.

4. Apprehensible

The simpler something is, the more comprehensive it will become. Being an excellent teacher, you must have the quality of making things simpler. Always remember that students do not have any prior knowledge about the subject. Find more effective ways to explain the concepts. Take help of visual aids like PowerPoint presentations, diagrams, charts, etc.  The students need to make themselves familiar with the language of the subject. Give a demo session every once in a while to know about your weaknesses. Feedback from the third person will help you improve your teaching skills. It is necessary to use a loud and clear pitch to convey your lecture.

5. Operative

Operational thinking is very important while teaching. The secret of successful teaching is to keep your students thinking.  Take help from different activities to revise the topic previously taught. These activities will help students to remember the concepts easily. Set up sessions like discussion, group activities, and question & answer sessions. Take quick quizzes. This will help you understand where students need to improve and what should be your next step in their education. 

6. Composed

Compose yourself and be patient. Give students some time to absorb the amount of information you provide them with. Keep in mind that making mistakes is also a part of learning. Give students room to make mistakes, and then teach them to learn from their mistakes. This is said to be the most effective and efficient way of learning. Motivate them to work hard, try to teach them new ways of learning, and suggest some good activities. Your job is to help them, not to blame them for their faults. Some students find it difficult to pick something fast; those students need your help the most. Look for new approaches and ways to teach the things that you might think are not clear to them. It is also okay for you to make mistakes. Do not be so hard on yourself. Teaching is a challenging profession, so brace yourself and be patient simultaneously.

7. Impartial

Be honest, fair, and maintain the respect of the noble profession. Make clear policies and act according to them, whether it is to cut off marks in a question paper, deduct marks from an assignment, or punish a student for a late submission. Students consider their teachers as their role models. So, think about what kind of role model you would like to have? Perhaps one who is not judgemental, fair to all students, never blames you for their mistakes, who never express their anger, and who always apologizes.  So, try to be the role model you would like to have. Be consistent with your standards, do not give any special treatments to any students. Have proper knowledge of the subject and answer the questions right; otherwise, just ask for a day or two to conduct research before answering the question.

Final Thoughts

Having the traits mentioned above is important, and these traits will help you become an excellent teacher. Other than these traits, a few more things can help you with your mission. You can have a master’s degree to enhance your knowledge about the educational field. Moreover, you can attend different conferences around the globe to connect with and learn from other teachers. You can also enhance your knowledge by reading blogs and listening to different podcasts to learn new teaching techniques. Asking for help from seniors and supervisors will improve your teaching skills. Once you have these skills, you can focus on developing great bonds and relationships with your students, which will help you become an engaging and loving teacher.