Introduction:
“A good teacher can inspire hope,
Ignite the imagination, and
Instill a love of learning”
A teacher has a very crucial role to perform in order to bring out expected learning behavior from the learners. As a growing teacher who is constantly equipping herself/himself to face changing situations, I felt that the following qualities are essential for anyone to be successful.
Competent: Teachers should be competent enough to face the divergent needs of students. Since students are living in the ‘Knowledge Era’, they are growing smarter. Teachers therefore need to be lifelong learners. ‘Living a life of learning is meaningful living.’
Compassionate: Teachers should be compassionate and loving towards learners. Since learners come from different family situations, teachers should be a second parent to them. They must give individual attention and focus to each and every child, encourage their talents and rectify their shortcomings and also be a patient listener to the tiny tales of the tiny tots.
Commonness: A teacher belongs to all students. She should be impartial, objective and reliable always. She should win the confidence and trust of her learners. She must maintain equity and give equal opportunities to all learners avoiding all sorts of prejudice and bias.
Communicative: The art of teaching lies in the art of delivery. The way a teacher communicates plays a pivotal role in the level of student understanding. Teacher’s language should be simple and clear. Moreover, since children imbibe and imitate language skills through observation and listening, teachers should develop their communicative skills.
Committed: A teacher should be aware of the value and ethics of the teaching profession. She should concentrate on the duty assigned to her and be punctual, honest and straight forward. A teacher committed to her profession will devote her time for planning, executing and recording the learning process. ‘If you salute your duty, you won’t have to salute anyone; but if you pollute your duty, you will have to salute everyone.’
Co-operative: Being a mediator, teachers should analyse, adjust and accommodate difficult situations to help overcome the learners’ educational challenges. Co-operating and maintaining congenial relationship with learners, parents and higher officials is necessary for teachers to ensure effective learning.
Creative: A teacher should be creative in presentation and performance. She should be filled with aesthetic sense and divergent thinking in order to nurture the same skill amongst the learners.
Cultured: Teachers of the modern age should eradicate communalism, casteism and terrorism from young minds. So teachers must be multi-cultural in approach and encourage pluralism.
Conclusion:
‘To the world you may be just a teacher but for your students you are a hero’. Yes, we teachers are real heroes for our students. To satisfy our students’ expectations, we have to consciously and continuously follow the above mentioned qualities. Then we will become successful teachers.
Highlights
- Since students are living in the ‘Knowledge Era’, they are growing smarter. Teachers therefore need to be lifelong learners. ‘Living a life of learning is meaningful living.’
- Teachers should be compassionate and loving towards learners. Since learners come from different family situations, teachers should be a second parent to them. They must give individual attention and focus to each and every child, encourage their talents and rectify their shortcomings and also be a patient listener to the tiny tales of the tiny tots.
- ‘To the world you may be just a teacher but for your students you are a hero’.