What’s the difference between an average teacher and an effective teacher? I’m not an educator but I do have the experience of seeing six children, over the course of 24 years, through the public education system. So I thought, based on my own experiences, that I would assemble a top ten list of the qualities of an effective teacher.
Humility
Some teachers just seem to exist. They aren’t interested in improving or asking for help. Maybe they've been beaten down but they don’t appear to have time to learn something from another educator who's excelling in the classroom next door. In the business world we say, “They are just there for the paycheck.”
Open to New Ideas
A great teacher wants to explore (or create) something new. As parents, we want our educators to be thought-leaders in finding or developing programs, lesson plans, and methodologies that get results.
Accountability
The debate continues: Should we base a teacher’s effectiveness on the outcome of a student’s standardized test score? From a parent’s perspective; the answer is yes. Why can’t a teacher provide the intangibles like a love for learning and prepare our children to pass the tests at the same time?
Patience
I have personally witnessed teachers unfairly and unjustly single out and demean students. What are we modeling to students? I can react to you in anger, disdain, or disrespect but you can’t?
Passion
I wonder how many teachers get their teaching certificates and then enter a classroom bright-eyed and bushy-tailed only to loose that wonder and enthusiasm over the next few years? How many stay because they’ve invested so much time and money and don’t know what else to do? They've lost the passion and vision so the work has become drudgery. The best teachers I know, never stop learning - even those who are now retired. They can’t get enough of it; they read, travel, take classes. They are engaged in life.
Organizational Multi-Tasking
Obviously, we ask a lot from our teachers. They juggle an impressive amount of paperwork, emergencies, class activities, and events – this isn’t a job for the haphazard or the weak of heart.
Hardworking
Let’s face it. Teaching is hard work. But the truth is - to excel in any industry you must be willing to pay the price. Being an effective teacher is no different. Let me say at this point that I sincerely admire teachers, they are the heartbeat of our future. They should be treated better and paid fairly. They should be honored.
Compassion
There is a lot of hurt, neglect, and sadness out there and teachers see the fall-out every day in class. So, it seems to me that teachers would need to have more compassion than the average person so that they could extend it to their students which would in turn, develop trust and an effective classroom.
For the most part, my children had a solid educational experience in the public school system – a few had amazing, thoughful teachers who were vested in their success. Are the qualities of these unforgettable teachers inherent? Are effective teachers born or made?
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