ALT-3 The Characteristics of a Good Teacher
Characteristics of a good teacher are not so different between cultures even if methods and interpretations are. Most cultures hold teachers to a high standard of knowledge and character. Teachers are with our children seven to eight hours per day in the U.S. They help to mold and shape character and knowledge. How many of us would place this responsibility into the hands of a perfect stranger? Yet we often do when we send our children to school.
Why would we do such a thing? We trust a system that we have been a part of. This system certifies our teachers as having met certain standards, and levels of training. We trust they are being held to a high ethic as well by our school boards or whoever governs our school systems. Have we let our expectations slide? I think in some cases we have. Most teachers are good teachers, but are they of good character?
What are the characteristics of a good teacher?
Communicates Knowledge
The teacher should have knowledge of what they are teaching and the ability to share that knowledge. The second part of that statement is the most important. Knowing is not the same as communicating knowledge effectively. Ability to gain student interest often hinges on the attitude of the teacher and their ability to communicate at a student's level.
Flexibility and Tolerance
The teacher needs flexibility in teaching style and method. No two students are the same. Not all students learn the same way or at the same pace. If a teacher doesn't develop a way to reach the single student, they are going to have difficulty teaching a group. If that sounds a little backward think about it. I used to help develop daily schedules and training plans for a group of sixteen people with special needs in an institution. There is no doubt each has a unique need in those situations. It's easy to let some needs slide. Yet, if we let an important need slide, it will affect other aspects of their development. Balance is the key, and meeting individual needs in a group is possible. I've been told it isn't, but I've proven it is.
Sense of Detachment
A teacher should never personalize a student's inability to cope in a classroom setting. By personalizing the student's problems they end up resenting the student. A teacher who resents a student has lost the priority; which is the student. The student may have learning disabilities or be extremely gifted. It is not a reflection on the teacher that these children have such challenges. It is the teacher's responsibility to seek proper evaluation and guidance for teaching the student and/or helping the parents do so as well.
Creativity and Humor
Creativity is a must for teachers. Keeping a student's attention especially in kindergarten or first grade is tough. Adapting classroom projects into fun ways of learning, or interesting challenges for students helps them "think outside the box" and develop their own creative learning processes. This teacher is less likely to ask all students to fit into a narrow framework for learning. Without a sense of humor, the teacher is not likely to survive student antics.
Listener
The ability to listen is not only important for teachers to evaluate student progress, but to help target potential problems. My grandson was in kindergarten when his mother became pregnant with his baby sister. During his mothers pregnancy she had to be hospitalized for a while due to an inflamed gall bladder that was full of stones. It also involved a risky surgery because was right at the end of the first trimester. So his father stayed close to his mother's bed side. My grandson knew mommy hurt.
There was obvious strain in the house because of the surgery, recovery, and then waiting for the new arrival. The baby arrived in summer so my grandson was out of school, but adjustment to a new sibling takes a while. His mother injured her eye with an accidental puncture on the next New Years day. The events sequenced a long period of stress on my grandson.
Did he act out in the classroom? You bet he did. My daughter and son-in-law explained the strain the child was feeling. This helped the teacher understand his behaviors. That understanding helped her to listen to his concerns more and offer some reassurance at school.
Patient yet Firm
Teachers need to be patient, but they also need to be firm. Most children are reassured and feel safer if they know their limits. If a teacher does not remain firm on some set boundaries in the classroom, children usually retaliate through behaviors. Firm does not mean screaming at a child, it means letting them know your limits and holding to them. Patience is a part of being firm. Children cannot learn a teacher's boundaries and rules within a day, and some will test even longer. The teacher often writes classroom rules on the board and/or may have a reward system to stimulate a desire for displaying good behavior.
Patience comes in giving students time to absorb the reality of boundaries. Firmness is in correcting the student through reminders. For severe and repeated disobedience a time out, talking with mom and dad, or some corrective measure needs to take place.
Good Example
A teacher needs to set a good example for their students. This takes a certain amount of good moral character. I'm not saying they all have to attend church every Sunday. What I am suggesting is realizing that their position requires them to display acceptable behavior in the community. Teachers need to maintain respectability in their lifestyle beyond the school grounds. My son once came home after a wrestling practice and noticed one of his teachers in a drunken state, setting on his porch, spouting foul language and racial remarks. This man was a coach and someone my son looked up to. The kid was devastated. He did not have much respect for that teacher after that.
Whatever social structure and governing bodies we have, we need to have a certain amount of trust in them and those who teach our children. We are careful to know the doctor who holds the lives of our children in their hands at birth. Teachers should also be held to a high standard and scrutinized closely. They hold our children's future in their classrooms. I'd like to say that all teachers and parents fit these character traits. Most do, but the few who don't can cause damage to our children and their development.
