Are you a teacher who constantly doubts your abilities? Are you facing problems due to the sudden shift to online teaching? Are you figuring out how to teach online? Worry no more, our blogs are here to help you out. Today, we will be looking into 20 qualities of a good teacher and the importance of being a good teacher. Meanwhile, you can also check our blog on teaching skills which will help you understand this blog better.
Without further ado, let’s look at the importance of being a good teacher.
The Importance of Being a Good Teacher
It is said that a teacher affects eternity. You never know where the influence stops.
- Teachers play a crucial role in shaping the future generation. They are dealing with young kids who are full of life and energy.
- Teachers nurture natural abilities and skills and prepare kids for the future. As a teacher, you have to be a role model and inspire your students.
- Different students might be coming from different backgrounds and as their teacher, you have the power to uplift them and make a change. Teachers change lives and that is why teaching is one of the most important professions in the world.
Let’s take a look at 20 qualities of a good teacher:
Teaching is a difficult job. We had discussed in detail the important teaching skills that are required for a teacher. There are certain personality traits and qualities that every student looks forward to in a teacher. Remember how you were as a student? Who was your favorite teacher? I am sure it was not one who came in with sticks and stones. While scaring students might make them do their work, being harsh is not going to benefit them in the long run. Take inspiration from teachers you look up to and never ever stop learning and growing. If you feel that you don’t have some of the qualities listed below, don’t worry. It does not make you any less of a good teacher. You can always try and incorporate new things into your classroom and lives.
What Are The Most Important Qualities of a Good Teacher?
1.Empathy
One of the most important good qualities of a teacher is empathy. Let’s understand this quality through an example.
Imagine you are in your classroom and there’s a student who continuously performs poorly in his/her exams. You advised them to study and yet, they keep on getting low marks. Now, it’s natural for you to get angry because, despite your efforts, the kid is not performing well. However, you don’t know what’s going inside them and what kind of conditions they are going through. What if the kid is facing issues with their family or if they have a learning disability? As a teacher, you need to put yourself in their situation and think as your student. This is what empathy is. You must understand the student and be available.
2.Creativity
Do you remember how you used to be as a student? Did you enjoy your classes or were you bored during the lessons? As a teacher, you have to ensure that your students don’t get bored. It’s common for students to lose interest and attention. How do you make sure that they are listening to you? The answer is simple, be creative! One of the important qualities of an ideal teacher is creativity. By being creative, you can make your classes interesting. You can use the help of various online teaching tools to add life to the classroom. As more and more people move towards online classes and online teaching, the need for creativity in the classroom has become more important.
3.Communication
While talking about the good qualities of a teacher, communication skills cannot be missed. When it comes to communication, a lot of things can go wrong. It is said that the biggest problem with communication is the misconception that it has taken place. To put it simply, as a teacher, you might think that you are communicating well. But, there are a few points to be kept in mind:
- Always invite feedback, ask your students if they have understood
- Create a platform for open communication
- Talk in their regional language and guarantee your students that the classroom is a safe space
When the teacher assumes a strict and harsh role and the communication becomes one way, there’s not much learning involved. Neither for the student nor the teacher.
Communication need not always be verbal, the teacher has to pick up non-verbal cues and that’s where the real qualities of a teacher get tested. It is important for teachers to have strong verbal and nonverbal communication skills.
4.Interpersonal skills
Interpersonal skills and communication skills are closely related to each other. How well you communicate with your students and their parents will determine the nature of your connection with them. Interpersonal communication is important to establish strong interpersonal relationships. As mentioned above, a teacher must aim for the holistic development of a student. For example, it is not just their education that matters. It is their behavior, their manners, their attitude, and a lot more aspects as well. In order to make sure that the students achieve this, the teacher must have strong interpersonal skills. So that they can connect with their students and solve their problems if any.
5. Positive Outlook
Students would often feel depressed and down. If a teacher has the quality of always being positive, it can help the students in a lot of ways. A positive attitude and a positive relationship between students and teachers is the most important thing needed to ensure effective learning.
6.Fair Minded
A teacher has to treat all her students equally. Fairness is one of the most important qualities of effective teachers. When a teacher is fair-minded, it earns them respect and students feel safe and valued in the classroom. Creating a classroom environment that’s fair will nurture trust and respect between students and it is a great quality to teach your students.
7.Humorous
Though most people don’t think of humor as a quality, it is one of the most significant qualities of an ideal teacher. When the classroom gets boring, who doesn’t like a good laugh and some jokes? Teachers who are humorous and funny have the ability to connect with students easily and can create a joyful environment. By being humorous, we don’t just mean cracking jokes, being able to enjoy jokes, and small mischievous activities from students is also a part of being humorous.
8.Consistent
Consistency helps teachers and students alike. It helps teachers to feel more organized. Being organized and well planned removes tension and stress. By consistency, we mean having a routine and system in place. When there’s a proper routine, the respect from the students’ and parents’ side increases.
9.Rewarding
A small pat on the back can go a long way. Teachers need to be rewarding and have to acknowledge the efforts of their students. When teachers say “well done”, “good job” etc and reward students with a good word of encouragement, it motivates them to do better and makes you a better teacher. Hence, when the question of what are the most important qualities of a good teacher, comes up, this quality cannot be missed.
10.Reliable
A reliable teacher is someone who is dedicated to their job and is trustworthy. Reliability is one of the best qualities of a teacher. Reliable teachers know how to make proper decisions and assessments. Since a student’s future lies with the teacher, it is important for students to study under reliable teachers and for teachers to cultivate the quality of reliability in their students.
11.Passionate
Passion is something that every teacher should have. Teaching is not an easy job. There are a lot of problems that teachers face in their day to day lives. From low engagement of students to less interactivity, there are a lot of issues. Now, with online teaching and live classes, teachers face even bigger problems. Passion is the core essential quality that helps teachers to overcome any problem that they face. With passion and the right online teaching platform, teachers can seek success. Teachmint is one such platform for passionate teachers. With this simple and secure online teaching app, teachers can take live classes with real-time student-teacher interaction. Download the app here.
12.Motivating
Low motivation to study and learn is one of the major concerns of every parent, teacher, and students across the globe. Teachers can play a huge role in motivating their students. As mentioned above, a small pat on the back can go a long way. Prompt feed, critical appreciation, group works, etc are some of the methods that teachers can apply to motivate their students. When a teacher is naturally motivating, when they ask their students to do more and push them to be their best, the results are amazing.
13.Active listening
Quite often, students want someone to listen to them. You can be a great teacher only when you understand what your students need and in order to understand what they want, you have to listen. Active listening is one of the most important qualities of an ideal teacher.
14.Nurturing
A nurturing teacher promotes a healthy classroom. There’s enough room for opinions, feedback, and mistakes. Students often need someone to talk to them through their problems and mistakes. When teachers get harsh on them, there are chances of students acting out. Whereas when a teacher is nurturing, the students feel safe, it increases respect between students and towards the teacher. If students have behavioral or social disabilities, a nurturing teacher can help them a lot.
15.Honesty
Students look up to their teachers and honesty is one of the important qualities that students need. Honesty towards the work that you do, towards your students and colleagues is extremely important. Honesty is often a package, it comes along with qualities such as responsibility, courage, and reliability.
16.Punctuality
Being on time and sticking to schedules and timetables is among the most needed qualities of an ideal teacher. Students learn from you and in order to instill a sense of punctuality in them, you have to live by it. This quality reflects your responsibility and commitment to your profession.
17.Willingness to Learn
Teaching and learning go hand in hand. A good teacher never stops learning. With the education sector changing every day, teachers need to learn and upskill themselves. For example, with classes going online, teachers have to learn about live classes and online teaching. Though with an easy to use online teaching app like Teachmint, it is easy for teachers to take live classes, teachers should always be willing to learn new things.
18.Organization skills
This quality helps teachers to stay punctual and disciplined. Organization and planning are extremely important qualities of a good teacher. Imagine putting all the keys in one box without labeling them. Your house keys, locker keys, car and bike keys, everything in one big box. If you were running out in a hurry and were searching for your keys, imagine how much time you would spend finding the keys. Instead, if they were labeled and kept separately, it would have been easier for you. The same applies to your teaching job. If you are organized and planned, it helps you be on time and finish your lessons. This is an unavoidable characteristic of teaching.
19.Ethics
Ethics is a standard set of values and beliefs that teachers should follow. It is important for teachers to have good ethical principles. Ethics is what tells us what is right and wrong and keeps us from doing things that are wrong. It is against a teacher’s ethics to be unfair to students and to show partiality to students.
20.Dignity
Respect for humanity is of utmost importance. Since learning starts with teachers, it is very important for teachers to respect everyone regardless of their gender, status, caste, and creed. There’s no room for judgment and bias. This is one of the characteristics of teaching that sets teachers apart.
Conclusion
A good set of principles and qualities are essential to make teaching effective. With teaching being redefined day by day it is important for them to hold their qualities close. If you are a teacher, you know how difficult it is to take classes. The above-mentioned qualities help teachers to overcome these challenges. Good teaching is founded on qualities and values. As mentioned before, if you don’t have any of these qualities, don’t worry, you can inculcate them.
If you are trying to start online teaching and are searching for a good online teaching app, is the best App. With this one-stop solution, you can manage live classes, there’s real-time student-teacher interaction, automatic attendance marking, and more. Download the app now.
Originally published at https://blog.teachmint.com on September 11, 2020.
