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What qualities make a great teacher?

Discussion in 'Education' started by Tricster, Jun 1, 2017.

  1. Tricster

    Tricster New Member

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    A couple of weeks ago, I was watching the teachers' tournament on Jeopardy. During the segment of the show where Alex, the host, talks to the contestants, some of them were talking about the interesting things they do in their classrooms. For example, one teacher made up songs to go along with whatever topic she was working on that day.

    I got to thinking that one of the things that makes a great teacher is the ability to think outside the box and to truly engage with students and material beyond the textbook. Some of my most memorable teachers didn't rely on the book at all, but instead taught from a place of real interest and connection with their subjects. I think this ability to add some variety and some fun as well as to share information that they themselves are passionate about is one characteristic of a great teacher.

    Are there others? Who were your favorite teachers, and what made them great?
     
  2. Chiku

    Chiku New Member

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    • The most important characteristic of a good teacher can have is to be friendly and congenial with his students. It is a plus if his students can share their problems with him, without being afraid or hesitant.

    A good teacher has a very good personality; there is no second thought about it. Students always get attracted to teachers with good personality which leads to better communication, understanding, and ultimately good results.

    A good teacher should also have the quality and characteristic of having a good sense of humor. It is a logical fact that a person generally teaches the next generation and as they are younger than the professor, they are expected to have more fun in the class too. So, a good teacher is the one who can keep up with his sense of humor, and with his strong communication skills and personality, can also maintain the discipline of the students.

    Another characteristics to have in his box of qualities: he should be a gentle, kind, chivalrous, and benevolent person. Students should love him, and when they do love him, they idolize him. Then ultimately, they will respect him, will do the homework, and eventually will bring greater outputs and results.
     
  3. David17

    David17 New Member

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    Interesting! I personally think a good teacher is the one who love kids (students). The teacher passionately teaches and interacts with them as if they were his/her own through giving out productive lessons, and making the necessary follow-ups and updates and improvements. A great teacher to me is also the one who's so passionate about teaching and the subject(s) he/she teaches, and also understand the role of the school (education) in a child's life. The teacher should also be the one who has enough humility to remember that the position he/she has isn't about him/her, but the student's!
     
  4. Vyck

    Vyck New Member

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    Great threat. As a former teacher, the quality that (I think) helped me the most was to really connect with students. I realized that if they are not comfortable in a classroom with you, they won't make the effort to learn a single thing (In fact, disliking a teacher could make them dislike the subject altogether). Another important quality is the ability to make even the most boring of subjects, a funny and engaging experience. Not sticking to a book is also a plus, since most students tend to think that sticking to a book will make the class slow and boring.
     
  5. daniel1981

    daniel1981 New Member

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    Basically I think there are 3 qualities of a good teacher namely professionalism, preparation and presentation. Professionalism is about proper training and it's application in actual teaching. Preparation is being ready as in mastering what is to be taught. Then presentation is actual delivery of the content to be taught. They can be summarised as 3ps. On top of that dedication and passion for the job are also necessary.
     
  6. pioneerauthor2017

    pioneerauthor2017 New Member

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    A teacher must be a trainer willing to bring the best out of a child without minding any financial advantage. A great teacher realizes that no child can ever become great or fulfil any dream in life unless a passionate trainer is beside to assist and, thus, must be ready to do so. The use of quality and well-graded published educational materials for grooming children adds a lot of values to a teacher's vision and mission.

    Aside from other qualities of a good teacher, building lives and raising giants must be the uttermost objective and interest, not minding those common challenges. A good teacher must always be on the look-out for gifted/talented children and help in developing those talents.
     
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  7. Roselyn

    Roselyn New Member

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    I believe teachers are meant to understand each child's learning habits and more are expected from them.
    Qualities of a teacher are as follows:
    - Interaction with the pupils.
    - Accomodating
    - Friendly
    - Flexible
    - Passionate
    - He or she must be gentle and kind
    - Good communicator
    - Understanding each child's mode of learning
    - Having a conducive classroom
    - Being able to manage classrom and also know the subject matter.

    Infact there are so many things expected of from teachers for them to deliver well and makes learning more interesting to pupils and makes classroom conducive for children.
     
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  8. Proletariat

    Proletariat New Member

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    A good teacher must encourage his student to improve constantly. I have seen teachers who ridicule their students whenever they fail. These students look up to the teacher for guidance and encouragement and if a teacher turns into a bully, then that student will never succeed at anything in life. A teacher should be a parent away from home.
     
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  9. Shana Peckover

    Shana Peckover New Member

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    As a certified teacher, I would have to say that a good teacher has compassion for all students, patience, and willingness to take the time to learn how each student learns best, whether it be through the auditory, visual, or kinesthetic sense. Students must be shown respect, but must understand that respect must be returned as well. When a student has trust in you, they can succeed at most anything in their path.
     
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  10. Shana Peckover

    Shana Peckover New Member

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    Thank you for liking my post.
     
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  11. Olufemi David Olatunji

    Olufemi David Olatunji New Member

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    A great teacher works tirelessly to create a challenging, nurturing environment for their students.
    Great teaching is to have less to do with our knowledge and skills than with our attitude toward our students, our subjects, and our work. Although this list is certainly not all-inclusive, I have narrowed down the many characteristics of a great teacher to those I have found to be the most essential, regardless of the age of the learner.
    1. A great teacher respects students
    2. He creates a sense of community and belonging in the classroom
    3. He is warm, accessible, enthusiastic and caring
    4. He sets high expectations for all students
    5. He has his own form of learning
    6. He is a skilled leader
    7. He collaborates with colleagues on an ongoing basis
    8. He maintains professionalism in all areas
     
  12. Unilever001

    Unilever001 New Member

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    1. The full understanding of the concept or subject being taught
    2. Ability to communicate effectively in whatsoever form that the students can understand.
    3. Patience.
     
  13. Olufemi David Olatunji

    Olufemi David Olatunji New Member

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    You are perfectly right. That is, having the mastery of the subject matter will really make the teacher very effective and productive.
    Also, notice that classroom communication is three parts, which are:
    1. Verbal communication, which is anything that a teacher speaks aloud and comprehensively
    2. Non-verbal communication
    3. Written communication, which is a writing directed at a specific audience, such as report cards, remarks or students' assignment.
     
  14. Olufemi David Olatunji

    Olufemi David Olatunji New Member

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    A great teacher is kind, fatherly, friendly and congenial. He is a good communicator and a good listener. Also, he has a good sense of humour. He has a passion for teaching and willingness to reflect.
    However, everyone must understand that being a great teacher is a constant struggle to always improve.
     
  15. TheOtherSide

    TheOtherSide New Member

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    I think it's compassion. The ability to see the present and to act accordingly. Not everything valuable and promising are written on books, you have to be compassionate to see what your students really need. Like for example, in some countries, students rarely eat breakfast before going to school. There are even those that do extra work before going to school, because they happen to be the bread winner in the family. So, the tendency of the student dropping out of school is always a possibility. And if you are not going to see through it, then what good a teacher would you be?
     
  16. Olufemi David Olatunji

    Olufemi David Olatunji New Member

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    Actually, compassion is a great attribute of a great teacher. As teachers, if we show compassion on oupur students as their surrogate parents, that will be highly motivating. They wouid love to study and thereby making our efforts fruitful.
     
  17. Majo

    Majo New Member

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    Personally, a great teacher is one who is able to understand the level of understanding of each of his/ her students and pass that intended information in ways that even the not so good performing student can understand or interpret.
     
  18. Folorunsho

    Folorunsho New Member

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    I think one of the most important roles of a teacher is to be a good listener. A teacher must be someone that a student can always turn to when he needs help. A good teacher must also be someone who has the passion for teaching. This is really important. A good teacher should also possess incredible knowledge of and enthusiasm for the subject that they are teaching. This makes them well-prepared to answer questions and keep the class really interesting for the students.
     
  19. ahmedo24

    ahmedo24 New Member

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    Teaching is a profession that requires passion. Being a teacher is challenging and interesting because it involves dealing with students or kids from different homes. A good teacher should posses the followings:
    He or should be academically sound.
    He or she should be eloquent.
    He or she should be friendly so as to arrest the interest of the students.
    His teaching skill should be easy, participatory and practical.
    He should have good personality such that the students see him as a role model.
     
  20. plenc

    plenc Member

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    Part of the answer lies in the teaching strategies that they use; however, another part of the answer lies in the teachers themselves. Simply forcing all teachers in school to adopt certain teaching strategies will not change the fact that there will be some teachers who clearly have more impact on students than others.
    They love what they teach, they love being a teacher, and they love the challenge of helping each of their students learn. Their passion is contagious, and they infect their students with a love of learning.
    Passion is what drives us to put so much energy into our teaching. It stops us from giving up when things get hard, and it motivates us to learn ways to improve our craft – no matter how good we already are. You cannot be a great teacher without a passion for helping kids learn.
    They acknowledge that their students are at different stages and have varying levels of ability. However, they believe that all of their students can learn, that all of their students should achieve real progress every year and that all of their students should achieve basic levels of competence in literacy and numeracy. Great teachers expect every one of their students to work hard and achieve things that haven’t mastered before. Their belief in their students leads these teachers to challenge their high achievers, in the same way it leads them to challenge students who struggle.
    All other things being equal, smart people make the best teachers and the smarter the person the better. Teachers who care about their students have more impact on how well those students do at school.
    Great teachers want to help every one of their students to succeed, but sometimes their efforts fail to have the desired effect. They are not afraid of failure. They don’t blame themselves, but nor do they excuse the failure as inevitable. Rather, they see the failure as feedback that tells them that what they are currently doing is not working for this student or group of students. Great teachers then embrace the situation as a challenge to be met or a problem to be solved.
     

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