Who was your most influential teacher? Why?

Teaching is one of the most important professions in the world. Teaching is a task which can either be hard or enjoyable depending on your relationship with your students. Teachers are the ones responsible for shaping the future generation. Teaching is a difficult job because a teacher encounters students from different backgrounds and ethnicity. Teachers create a lot of memorable moments with their students. The following are some of the things that make a teacher great;

1. Creativity

Creativity is one of the most important things that a teacher needs to be great. It empowers students and teachers to express ideas and opinions in unique ways.

Students lose interest and attention easily. For a teacher to ensure that their students don’t get bored, they need to become extra-creative.

To be creative, a teacher needs to ignore limitations and challenge assumptions.

2. Good Communication Skills

Another thing that make a teacher great is good communication skills. Communication has proven itself to be the most essential thing for healthy relationships including that of a teacher and their students.

Communication between a teacher and their student should not be one-way.

A teacher should also listen to their students to ensure proper learning for both the teacher and the student.

A teacher should be able to create a platform for open communication, guarantee that the classroom is a safe space for the students and always invite feedback from the students.

Being harsh or strict to your students does not help in the learning of the student.

3. Empathy

A great teacher has empathy for their students. They try to understand their students from the students’ point of view.

They make efforts to follow up on each and every students’ performance.

When a student performs poorly or falls behind the others, they empathize with them instead of judging them wrong.

4. Patience

As a teacher, you have to understand that each student has their own unique struggles and challenges. You have to understand that the students do not have the same abilities to understand what you teach. You have to be patient with the ‘slow learners’ to cut up with those who learn fast.

5. Adaptability

Adaptability is the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions, use or purpose. A teacher should be able to adjust new topics and theories of learning without being immobilized by stress or indecision. You have to know what’s working and what is not working for your students.

Final Thoughts

Just like technology evolves, students are evolving too with need for change over time. Teachers therefore need to develop and maintain our wide range of skills to keep up with the diversity.

Teachers need to have skills like leadership skills, working ethics, problem solving abilities and high emotional intelligence. They should make learning enjoyable by educating students in a way that is engaging and appeals to the students interests.