Abstract
It takes much hard work and dedication to be a good teacher. A quality teacher possesses different strengths and qualities, such as being well passionate, having a positive attitude, being well educated, being creative, and being a good listener. I believe that, through my experiences, my strengths, and my qualities, I will be a good, quality teacher. There are several characteristics and qualities that I possess that will help me stand out and be the best teacher that I can be.
Introduction:
Plato, a famous Greek philosopher, once said, “Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each” (Plato, 1999) . According to Plato, a quality teacher’s goal is to direct students in the way in which they should go. I am looking to do just that—I want to help my students, not only learn, but to also direct them in a way that helps them as learners. I am an elementary teacher who is qualified to teach general education, as well as special education, to elementary students. As an inquiring teacher, there are several qualities and strengths that make me stand out as a great teacher.
Qualities:
I believe there are many qualities that make up a good teacher. In my opinion, the most important quality of a great teacher is that they need to be passionate about what they do. A teacher needs to have a strong passion about teaching students different material in order to help them grow and succeed. Students look up to the teacher—if the teacher is not passionate about teaching, the student will feel less motivated to learn.
Going hand in hand with being passionate about what they do, a good teacher needs to have a positive attitude. Although there may be times where a teacher is frustrated and stressed, they still need to keep a positive attitude. If a teacher has a negative attitude and is not enthusiastic about teaching and helping students learn, this will make it much harder for the student to have the motivation that is needed for the learning process.
In my own experience, I used to have a strong dislike to mathematics. It was a subject that was difficult and discouraging for me. Thankfully, my third grade teacher, Mrs. Walker, was a very passionate teacher. She was very energetic and enthusiastic about every subject that she taught. As a student, I saw her positive attitude towards a subject that I didn’t like, and I began to show some interest to mathematics. Because of Mrs. Walker’s positive attitude about math, I slowly began to enjoy math. Her teaching drew me in deeper and deeper, until I learned to love math. Now, ever since my junior year in high school, I have been a math tutor for 3 junior high students. I believe that Mrs. Walker’s enthusiasm and positive attitude towards mathematics helped me to be successful in math today.
I also believe that a good teacher needs to be well educated. It is the teacher’s job to educate the student and help them learn. How can one do this if they are not well educated themselves? A good teacher needs to be knowledgeable so they, in turn, can pass on their knowledge and information to their students. Students also will ask the teacher questions—the teacher needs to possess the knowledge so they can answer questions and help better explain things to the students. If a teacher does not know the answer to a question, they need to know where and how they can look up the answer. It is extremely important for a teacher to be knowledgeable and well educated.
Another important quality for a teacher to possess is creativity. According to an unknown author of a Chinese proverb, creativity is needed within a classroom for a student to learn better. “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand” (Kogan, 2010). This quote explains that a student will better remember and understand something if they are involved within the teacher’s teaching and lesson. An important way to do this is through creativity. Every child learns differently. Because of this, as teachers, we need to be creative so that our students can learn better and be more involved within the classroom.
Finally, a teacher must possess the quality of listening. As teachers, we need to learn from our students and be able to make the right response. One major part of listening can be through offering and receiving feedback from our students. A good teacher must listen to their students to see if what they are teaching and how they are teaching it is effective within the student’s learning. If a teacher receives negative feedback on a certain lesson or assignment, the teacher needs to be able to modify it so that it will better benefit the student’s learning abilities within the classroom.
Passion, Calling:
As for myself, I have always wanted to be a teacher. Whenever anyone would ask me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, my answer was always that I wanted to be a teacher. As I grew older, I began to show an even greater interest and passion about wanting to teach. One experience that made me want to teach even more was having a mother of a younger student ask me if I would tutor their daughter. After much thought, I agreed and started my first job as a tutor. I met with this girl two times a week and helped her with her math homework. Through word of mouth from this family, another family asked if I would tutor their son as well. I agreed, thus starting another job as a tutor with another family. Each week, I really looked forward to working with these two students. I loved being looked up to in order to help another person with their homework and questions with different subjects. These experiences of being a tutor for three years played a large role in strengthening my desire and calling to teach a classroom full of students someday.
It was not until my senior year of high school when I began to develop a passion for students with special needs and disabilities. I had the great opportunity and experience to travel oversees to Jamaica on a mission trip. While we were in Jamaica, we spent a day at West Haven, an orphanage for handicapped children. The children that were in this orphanage were mostly severely cognitive impaired. As we spent the day with the children and loved and played with them, I felt that it was God’s calling for me to be involved in a career with handicapped children. It was then that I realized that God wanted me to teach special education students and students with disabilities.
Strengths:
There are several qualities that I possess that will make me a good teacher. First of all, I am passionate for helping students learn. I have had many different opportunities in the past with teaching students. I have taught students through being a tutor in math, being a tutor in English, helping students with disabilities, and being a small group leader at a church. I have a very strong passion to help other students learn and grow, no matter what their circumstances may be.
Another strength that I possess is having a good attitude. I am a very energetic person and I have a positive outlook on life. I am very enthusiastic on what I teach and I also have a good attitude. I would be a good teacher because of my outgoing and energetic personality.
Along with a good attitude, I am also very creative. I love finding new ways to teach something. I strongly believe that every student learns differently. Some students learn better through hands-on activities, while other students learn better through pictures and diagrams. As a teacher, I believe that it is very important to be creative in teaching styles. I want to help students learn, taking into consideration their strengths and differences, and being creative is a very good step that I can use to achieve this goal.
Although I have many strengths that will make me be a good teacher, there are also some things that I will need to work on throughout my career. As a teacher, you learn from your mistakes. If a lesson does not go the way you plan, a teacher needs to be able to fix it and make it better for the next time. This is something that I will need to work on. Another thing that I need to work on is being more flexible. As a person, I am very organized and I love making plans. While being a teacher, there will be several things that will not go according to plan. In these cases, I need to be more flexible. I need to realize that I can’t stop the inevitable and I need to make the best out of a situation. This is how one learns. I believe that I will learn from my mistakes that I do make as a teacher to be even more prepared for the next time.
Goals:
On even more of a personal level, there are goals, both short term and long term, that I hope to accomplish as a teacher. One goal that I want to accomplish, year after year, is by making my classroom a safe place to be. I want my students to know that it is ok to make mistakes. I want them to realize that you learn from your mistakes. Another goal that I want to accomplish year after year is to make my classroom creatively diverse. As a teacher, I will present different lessons through different styles of learning. I want my students to be able to learn even better through several different styles of teaching.
Conclusion:
As a whole, I want my students to be successful. I will do anything in my power to help my students get the most out of their education. I want them to not only get good grades, but to be prepared for their next class in the years to come as well. I want to do whatever it takes to help my students grow and learn. I believe that I will be a great teacher. As a teacher, I am very confident that I will play a large role in students’ lives and help them be the best students that they can be.
References
Kogan, D. (2010, May 8). Teaching the Reading of Literature. Retrieved October 29, 2010, from
Plato. (1999). Plato Quotes. Retrieved October 28, 2010, from Think Exist:
http://thinkexist.com/quotation/do_not_train_a_child_to_learn_by_force_or/259396.html.
