Characteristics of an Effective Teacher
Knowledge and skills are taught and learned in the classroom. School is a little community in itself where teachers and students interact with each other. During this interaction, teachers influence their learner’s behavior, and learners influence their teacher’s behavior. The nature of this interaction is an important factor in determining the learner’s perceptions of school and his/her attitudes toward school-related people and activities. This factor involves the relationship between the personality of the teacher and that of the learner.
A teacher’s personality traits are important, as Callahan, (1966) says that the teacher whose personality helps create and maintain a classroom or learning environment in which students feel comfortable and in which they are motivated to learn is said to have a desirable teaching personality.
Research says that teachers are cognitively oriented toward pupils, while pupils are affectively oriented toward teachers. A teacher’s personality is, therefore, directly and indirectly, related to learning and teaching in the affective domain as well as to the cognitive and psychomotor domains, (LEW, 1977).
Teachers have the right and responsibility to develop a climate in the classroom that supports effective learning. Aristotle, quoted in Stephen Covey, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, says we are what we repeatedly do.
The climate in their classroom is based on the teachers’ personalities and styles of teaching, the tone of their voice, and the little things they continually say and do on a daily basis. In the classroom, the learners’ behavior could be determined by the way their teachers behave with them.
Best, (1991, p. 275) says that teaching is “primarily concerned with developing qualities such as curiosity, originality, initiative, cooperation, perseverance, open-mindedness, self-criticism, responsibility, self-confidence, and independence”. Marchbanks, (2000), in a study, examined the personalities of sixty students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill through a 110-question questionnaire. The traits of passion, patience, cooperation, authoritativeness, and creativity were studied in particular because these are the essential personality traits of an effective elementary school teacher. He says teachers in the twenty-first century are responsible for the overall well-being of their students, as well as educating, disciplining, and stimulating their developing minds. Because teachers have these additional duties, many more requirements are needed to be effective teachers. Let us read about the personality traits necessary to be able to accomplish all of the above-stated tasks and duties.
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Personal qualities
Elementary school teachers need the following characteristics:
• strong interpersonal and communication skills
• a genuine interest in children and respect for their individuality
• the ability to sense children’s individual needs
• the ability to be creative, imaginative, patient, energetic, organized, and resourceful
• the ability to establish rapport between children and parents
• strong leadership and teamwork skills and a good sense of humor
• a high level of dedication to work, which often impacts personal lifestyle choices
• a clear, pleasant speaking voice and the ability to convey confidence
• positive conflict resolution skills and the ability to handle stress well.
They can enjoy finding different ways to solve problems, presenting information, and organizing and coordinating the work of others.
One must be passionate, patient, cooperative, authoritative, and creative in order to be an effective teacher, besides having basic and extended knowledge of the subject he/she is teaching. A true passion for both the profession and the children is indispensable; a teacher must look forward to his or her job every single day, having the desire to instill in the students all the knowledge and skills needed to lead a happy, healthy life in today’s world. Patience is needed to maintain that passion and desire for teaching. In order to interact with the children and other teachers most effectively, an overall cooperative personality is needed. A degree of authoritativeness is necessary to preserve order and discipline in the classroom. Finally, teachers have to be creative in their approaches to instruction to earn the most successful results in educating their students (Marchbanks, 2000).
Thompson, Greer, and Greer (n.d.) say that “every teacher should possess twelve characteristics such as displaying fairness, having a positive outlook, being prepared, using a personal touch, possessing a sense of humor, possessing creativity, admitting mistakes, being forgiving, respecting students, maintaining high expectations, showing compassion, and developing a sense of belonging for students”.
Read this: Top qualities and skills of a good teacher.
Let us read these characteristics, as given below:
1) Fairness
Fairness is one of the characteristics of the student’s favorite teachers. Humans possess an inbuilt sense of fair play. Whenever a person violates, the other person in this situation is likely to react negatively. Any impression of favoritism, or lack of fairness, leaves scars on people’s lives that last forever. The students report in great detail, the unfair actions of their teachers when they had negative experiences of competition between classmates, even after many years have passed.
2) Positive Attitude
Another characteristic that students like most is the positive attitude and approach of the teachers they use in the classroom. Scholars suggest that effective teachers are those who use meaningful verbal praise to get and keep students actively participating in the learning process. Effective teachers are generally positive-minded individuals who believe in the success of their students as well as their own ability to help them achieve their goals. If the teachers have a positive attitude, they “catch students doing things right” rather than “catching them doing something wrong.” The students often recall praise and recognition that was given by their teachers at school, and they point to the confidence and direction that often resulted in their lives.
3) Preparedness
Competence and knowledge of the content area being taught are things that our college students have always mentioned about their favorite teachers. In their research, the students pointed out that in classrooms where teachers were well prepared, behavior problems were less prevalent. A well-prepared teacher is more likely to be able to take time during lessons to notice and attend to behavioral matters and is less likely to miss the beginnings of potentially disruptive activity. If, on the other hand, teachers have not spent sufficient time in planning and preparation, they tend to be so focused on what they are doing that they miss the early signs of misbehavior. This ultimately results in frequent disruption, a waste of valuable instructional time, and student frustration.
4) Personal Touch
Teachers who are connected personally with their students; call them by name, smile often, ask about students’ feelings and opinions, and accept students for who they are. As well as the teachers who tell stories of their own lives and events that relate to the subject matter currently being taught, motivate students’ interest, and endorse bonding with the students. Teachers who show interest in their students have interested students.
5) Sense of Humor
If a teacher has the ability to break the ice in difficult situations with the use of humor, this is an extremely valuable asset for teaching. According to McDermott & Rothenberg (2000), students enjoy teachers with a sense of humor and remember those teachers who made learning fun. Good teachers enjoy a laugh with the class occasionally.
6) Creativity
Students always like the unusual things that their teachers do in creative ways. The construction of models or things from waste like plastic bottles provides a field into which children could go and work quietly by themselves on academic activities like puzzles and word finds. Fun activities arranged by teachers in the classroom encourage the students to learn. Teachers can use unique ways to motivate their classes. Teachers can set a reward for the class for reaching a particular academic goal. For example, a teacher can give extra marks for work done by the students in a creative way.
7) Willingness to Admit Mistakes
Like everyone else, teachers may make mistakes. Sometimes students may know when their teachers make mistakes. Unfortunately, some teachers try to let the mistakes go unnoticed or cover them quickly. Teachers who recognize their mistakes in a very humble and pleasant way and apologize to them. This teacher provides an excellent model for the students, and they may be remembered as a good teacher.
8) Forgiving
Effective teachers reflect a willingness to forgive students for misbehavior. For example, if a student repeatedly asks irrelevant questions and distracts others from the lesson. The teacher can simply say the question is irrelevant and direct the student to further study.
9) Respect
The teachers desire to be respected by their students. The teachers who show respect to their students are always respected by them. Effective teachers can train their students to be respectful in many ways, such as keeping individual grades on papers confidential or speaking to students privately after misbehavior, not in front of others. Good teachers show sensitivity to feelings and consistently avoid situations that unnecessarily make students uncomfortable.
10) High expectations
Teachers with positive attitudes also possess high expectations for success. Teachers’ expectations affect the ways in which teachers teach and interact with students. Generally, students either rise to their teachers’ expectations or do not perform well when expectations are low or nonexistent. The best teachers have the highest standards. They consistently challenge their students to do their best.
11) Compassion
Hopefully, school is a place where children can learn and be nurtured in an emotionally safe environment. Sometimes in youngsters’ classrooms, there may be a significant amount of cruelty and hurt feelings. In these situations, a caring teacher tries to reduce the impact of hurt feelings on learning.
12) Sense of Belonging
Teachers developed a sense of family in their classrooms. A variety of strategies, such as random acts of kindness awards, class picture albums, and cooperative class goals, build a sense of unity and belonging and maintain an emotionally safe classroom. Good teachers also took strong measures to prevent mean and hurtful behavior like teasing and bullying. Effective teachers know well that when children feel emotionally and physically safe, they learn far better. Teacher quality is the most important factor in determining school quality.
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