ALT-8 The Characteristics of a Good Teacher
When you think about what traits a good teacher possesses, the top characteristics that should come to mind are desire to help others, a thirst for knowledge, and motivation. Without these three, a teacher will not be able to attain the loftiness of being considered "good" (although, if the person is a teacher and didn't have these in the first place then they probably don't care if they are considered good).
Desire
Teaching is a profession that is based on helping others. That means helping all students in your class, not just the ones you like. That means reaching out to children of different races, nationalities, abilities, intelligences, and many other widespread differences. You have to care about their needs and do everything in your power to help them, even if they resist you every step of the way. Without a desire to help others, a teacher won't be driven enough to make themselves better, which elicits more positive outcomes with the students.
Thirst
The best teachers never stop being a student themselves. That is not to stay that they have to keep attending a formal educational institution for the rest of their lives in order to be a good teacher, but they have to be continually on a quest for ways to educate themselves on a variety of different topics. Teachers need to keep on top of any changes in their content area to be sure that they are teaching their students the proper information and also they need to continually be reflecting upon the teaching practices going on their classrooms and modifying them as necessary to strive towards perfecting them. This thirst for knowledge will drive them to be better as a teacher and as a person. This thirst should never be quenched or they will become stagnant.
Motivation
How can teachers motivate and push their students to succeed if they don't have motivation themselves? Teaching is a very challenging profession. There are many other duties beyond the daily routines. There are the extracurricular activities, the planning, the grading, the extra tutoring, and many others. Without the motivation to not only get through all of these activities but to do them well, teachers will never become good teachers, and they certainly won't get to the level all should be striving for, and that is one of great and most memorable teacher. Also, if the students don't see that the teacher is motivated enough, they will feel like the teacher doesn't care. And if the teacher doesn't care then why should they?
These three traits are the foundation that any teacher that wants to be the best should be building their vocation upon. Those are the teachers that we really need.
