# Characteristics of a Good Teacher

Edited by Enda O Reilly, 2/18/2012 2:55 PM

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A good teacher must be able to help students along the learning process this will include all the things that we do to make it happen.

- The teacher must be cognisant of how does learning occur?
- Which factors influence learning?
- What is the role of memory?
- How does transfer occur?
- What types of learning are best explained by the theory?
- What basic assumptions/principles of the theory are relevant to learning design?
- How should instruction/pedagogy be structured to facilitate learning? ( Ertmer, P.A., Newby, T. J. 1993)

The end result will be that learning occurs when students take new found information and incorporate it into their daily life. The good teacher will have a mix of qualities and characteristics that will indicate their status as valued and effective in their profession both by fellow colleagues and students.

The aptitude to select and use what is the most relevant pedagogical theories to foster learning and understanding of the subject being discussed and of which will be off greatest assistance to the students is a key skill. For this to transpire the teacher must have a comprehensive understanding of the theories of Behaviourism, Cognitisim, Constructivism and Social Constructivism and to comprehend what theory or blend of theories and teaching strategies is most pertinent for a particular learning situation.

There is a range of personal qualities and attributes that are very important qualities of a good teacher. One of the most important attributes of a good teacher is to be a good communicator. He or she should be comfortable explaining things and enjoy doing the same. At times, a teacher might feel like yelling or shouting at students, but a good teacher is one who knows how to keep the temper in check and act calmly in such situations. Communication is one of the key features for teaching. The capacity to communicate with the young (or not so young) is the most significant characteristic of good teaching. It means, obviously, liking young people, enjoying their noisy exuberance and intense questioning, which is their process of growing up.

A teacher’s attitudes and judgements are reflected in his or her empathy to the learner, this will quickly become transparent to the learner as the communication style of the teacher will either demonstrate a rigid, formal or stand offish character or alternatively a more open, fluid, and informal style. This empathy or lack of it will impact on the value of communication in the classroom. These characteristics affect the ability to understand, or to see a situation as the student sees it. A good teacher must be, obviously, a compulsive listener. It means the skill of demanding more out of a student than he believed possible, of knowing how to test a young scholar in order that he can be convinced of his own learning and to lure him into further learning. It means a belief in the dignity of young people and in the stage of life at which they now find themselves. Great teachers neither mock nor underestimate the young.

One of the most essential characteristics of a good teacher is that they must be approachable. Students and parents want to know they can talk to a teacher and that he or she will listen. Part of a good teacher's job is to make learners feel like they can come to you. By creating a non-threatening, welcoming environment the teacher will reap the benefits from both students and their families. Of note is that not one research paper said a trait of good quality teachers were their bulletin boards, tidy rooms, easy grades, ability to write neatly or dress well. All the traits dealt with the ability to trigger learning, and thus the most important trait of all is the ability to communicate.

Effective educators are adept at monitoring student problems and progress. They remediate when necessary and differentiate as needed. To do this they use their time well. They are not the centre of the classroom. The students are encouraged to look for help and answers on their own. They are passionate about facilitating learning. As such, they are promoting their own obsolescence. Just as a fine manager has a team in place that can operate well without him or her, a good teacher creates in a student a sense of self that lasts a lifetime. They promote a deeper understanding of concepts and work habits than just learning the curriculum suggests. In other words, they create independence.

A good teacher should be a good leader. He should also be a disciplinarian and the students must look up to him. However, this should not stop him from acting like an ally under certain situations. A good teacher must have good time management skills and always value the importance of time. In fact, wise utilization of time is the hallmark of a good teacher. A good teacher should be meticulous and have an eye for detail. In fact, a disorganized person would find the vocation unsuitable and unfulfilling. Well thought-out plans and programs for teaching will assist the productivity of a teacher. A teacher should be dedicated towards his work. He should not kill his time in the classroom and wait for the school bell to ring.

A focal trait of a high-quality teacher is that he or she is a good learner. They are always eager to learn new things, expand their knowledge base, experiment with better ways to achieve success. They are lifelong learners and they produce lifelong learners. So, the first trait is to be unsatisfied with what is. In other words, the best teacher is always a student. A teacher should always adopt a fair attitude, when it comes to making any form of evaluations. He should be fair to his profession and assess students on their performance, instead of personal rapports and likings.

High expectations and enthusiasm are a trait of outstanding teachers. Setting high standards brings out the best in students and creates in them a feeling of accomplishment. They become self-reliant, learn to delay gratification, and fit more readily into adulthood where competition is inevitable. High standards are not impossible standards. Setting high expectations may challenge the student, but good teachers encourage risk taking and accept errors. . They do not accept glib answers. They do not accept first drafts. They do not accept false excuses. They are not the easiest teachers because of this trait. A student who knows the rules knows what to expect and knows what is right. The best teachers are those that have appropriate standards and that build good habits. One of the characteristics of a good teacher is having the willingness to strive to improve himself and his skills, and bringing that back to the classroom.

A good teacher should have the necessary command over the subject matter taught. Once this is the case he or she can be comfortable while explaining things and will be equipped with answers of any possible questions that might crop up during the lecture sessions. They must possess a deep knowledge of the subject matter and are able to manipulate, simplify, and individualize this information more easily because they are a master of it. A mark of a good teacher is that he or she has a passion for the subject. They are able to empathize with students who might not like that subject and turn that lack of enthusiasm around by presenting the facts from a different angle.

Learners respond to the mood a teacher creates within the classroom. The human brain is wired to be more receptive to learning when the element of pleasure is involved. One of the characteristics of a good teacher is that he or she brings the element of fun into lessons. We have to remember that we are, in a sense, competing for our student’s attention every day. First-class teachers have a good sense of humour. They can make jokes and accept jokes. They are not comedians, but they are entertaining. They tell stories, point out silly things, bring joy to difficult situations, and are not afraid of laughter. They use humour to connect to their students. In other words, excellent teachers keep the students' attention without fear. A sense of humour can help a teacher to simplify his task.
The capacity to provide quick and accurate assessment of student work. Tests and other projects are evaluated in a timely manner. The student work is returned with the understanding of what was right and what could be improved. Constant evaluation of learning helps to reassure, guide and foster learning. A helpful teacher does not discourage original thinking, but it must be proven. At all times, the best educator is looking for the student's reasoning, rather than the answer. In other words, for the insightful teacher, student assessment assesses the teacher's performance and provides ideas of what changes both need to make to improve.

Good teachers see education as more than what is done in the classroom, they use their training, participate in organizations, and use their contacts to enhance student learning. For example, they bring in guest speakers, get involved in community projects have open days to allow their students to display their work to parents and the local community. Find new resources to make their lessons more attractive use the media and current events to open a learners mind to what is happening in the world.
Flexibility of teaching methods allows for many ways to learn. By integrating a lesson among several subjects; the following is an example from my own teaching practice, to this end after teaching a specific theory in Maths, I employ the use of projects, where students work collaboratively to create their own statistical surveys based on a topic that they want to research, working with their own peer groups. Learners may use class room discussions, interviews or questionnaires to gather the data on which their data research assignment will be based. The information gathered will then be sorted and collated so that it can be accurately used to produce statistical graphs and charts that will show their research findings and may have some real-life applications.

A further interesting trait is that a quality teacher sometimes tries to keep a learner off balance. The student is not bored, but challenged. When a learner who has a skilful teacher comes home, they talk about what they did in class. They are riled up, they are motivated, and they know they need to be ready for the unexpected. A high-quality teacher can show a video, take them to the library, and have them work on a project, create lessons for one another, work on a computer, proofread a classmate's work, and invent a game to play at break. One day is seldom like the next. There is continuity, but diversity is everywhere.

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References:

Ertmer, P.A., Newby, T.J. (1993). Behaviourism, Cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6 (4), 50-70

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will put more references in later
will try and add to this later today, am off to work now