What do you believe are the traits of an effective teacher?
Working with over 1,000 teachers over the past 20+ years, these are what I believe to be the 7 traits of an effective teacher. Definition of 'trait': a distinguishing quality or characteristic, typically one belonging to a person.
1. Passion.
Primarily, teachers love teaching and are passionate about their students, their subject and teaching as a whole. An effective teacher is one who is passionate about education, but that doesn't mean they will be on 'cloud-nine' all of the time. They are in tune with the classes
They don’t panic when things don’t go according to the lesson plan and appreciate that even excellent, outstanding teachers can have a slightly off day.
I think that you place too much emphasis on the nature of organisation described here. Meticulous organisation is not a prerequisite to effective teaching like some of the other qualities listed here. In fact it can often be a barrier. Of course we need to be organised, but what we don’t need is to encourage OCD! Placing it above (amongst others) reflectiion is (in my view) a little regressive and unrealistic….
I agree with this comment.
Compassionate.
They have a personal philosophy of education , not relying solely on fleeting political agendas. This sustains them in “making a difference” and seeing the worth of every pupil and colleague.
Patience!
Effective teachers know their pupils as individuals; they personalise learning to motivate. They know a ‘challenging’ pupil’s individual circumstances and background and empathise / consider these to bring some positivity into that pupil’s life. They know how to motivate a talented pupil to achieve the next level. All within the same classroom at the same time.
Effective teachers DO NOT shape minds. I am ok with everything you wrote, except for that statement.
Really?
Really. My humble opinion. I don’t want to shape any minds.
Planning is something archaic. This focus on planning (writing elaborate lesson plans and schemes) is a total waste of time, and doesn’t serve to aid the teacher at all. During my teacher training, it only served as a hindrance, rather than an aid. I haven’t planned a single lesson for several years now, because I simply “know” what I should throw into my next lesson, based on short and long term schemes. Maybe now everyone is as organised as I am but teacher training should endeavour to help people reach this ability, not overload them with pointless paperwork!
I am a teacher and your this article taught me so many things about ‘being a good teacher’.
Thanks for your awesome information.