What to Expect from a Good Teacher?

Teachers play an important role in every student’s life whom he or she encounters. Teachers are like guiding counselors to help students become successful in their preferred career and business goals.

This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Reggie T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.

A Good Teacher’s Qualites

Importantly, a good teacher shapes students to become good humanitarians in their local community, resident, society, neighborhood, and act like a model citizen for their country. Students are the future for a brighter nation, so the future development of a strong nation is in the hands of teachers. The role of a teacher is to use classroom instruction and presentations to help students learn and apply concepts taught in class.

Furthermore, teachers prepare lessons, grade papers, manage the classroom, meet with parents, and work closely with school staff. These things are the objective goals, but to me, the role of a teacher is much more. Teachers mold each student into who they want to become, intentionally or not, and should not expect to get enough credit for their hard work during or after school.

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Teachers do not get enough credit for working around the clock. People assume that teachers only work when there are students in class and go home when students leave school, but this is further from the truth. Depending on the workload teachers have to complete may take them working past working hours. For example, grading assignments, lesson planning, after school classes, after school meetings with parents, teachers meeting, school staff meeting, and many other tasks to perform.

The list goes on and the work never ends. The examples are just many of the extra efforts teachers put into their work behind the scenes to keep their students headed in the right direction. The role of a teacher often goes unnoticed when putting in the hard effort and should not expect too much praise from anyone.

Teacher’s Efforts

Teachers do not get enough credit for helping their students to become better human beings. Young learners and adolescent students are going through a period where he or she is finding their own identity. Teachers are there for emotional support in their growth development and maturity. The objective is to instill proper education in every student's learning level, but teachers must be aware that young learners have feelings with no life experience to lean on when life gets difficult.

Teachers are adults with enough life experience to help young learners with advice, counseling, and mentoring. When young learners learn from what they see from a caring and positive teacher will most likely follow a teacher’s lead in behavior manners when encountering challenges in life. The role of a teacher often goes unnoticed when using emotional intelligence and should not expect too much in return.

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Teachers do not get enough credit in not accepting failures from their students. Teachers are motivators for every student when he or she struggles in their school subject. The realization that students will go through a phase where he or she feels like they are not enough, lack of, or never can learn a particular topic is a learning process that each student differ from individually. The learning level for each student is not the same for everyone. The brilliant students immediately understand a teacher’s lecture the first time around, but others need more time to understand a class subject whom he or she is struggling to understand.

Positive View

The attitude of “I can’t” is not an acceptable answer a teacher wants to hear from their students. Therefore, teachers are the motivating factor to give students a helping hand to get through their roadblocks of academic learning. The role of a teacher often goes unnoticed as a motivating force to push their students to have a studious drive in overcoming a learning obstacle and should not expect any appreciative feedback from students.

Teachers do not get enough credit for having too much patience. Especially, during the adolescent stages, where students feel the world revolves around them. Teachers dislike being babysitters, but part of class management is to instill discipline and control. If parents do not have their control over their children, then how much more for a teacher when having to take care of their misbehaving child.

Every adult in the world knows that children are a lot of work. So, a class pack with ten or more students can be a nightmare for many teachers to handle. The work is certainly hefty, but teachers must come to terms with this fact when accepting the job to teach. Teachers will have to experience enough patience to help and care for young learners. The role of a teacher often goes unnoticed when holding their temper from exploding and should not expect a trophy award for being patience.

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Balanced Approach

Lastly, teachers do not get enough credit for staying positive. Students do not see their teachers as human beings but think that they have a less social life, no feelings, or someone not important to them. Staying positive is something that everyone has to work on for themselves in any situation and profession. There will be days when the class turns out crazy, loud, and chaotic, but a teacher must not lose their cool when feeling under pressure.

Also, a teacher’s personal life can break them apart when life gets tough, but a teacher must not take their problems with them to class. However, easier said than done, a teacher must stay calm and poised, and smile directly at the thunderous storm when life hits hard. The role of a teacher often goes unnoticed when he or she constantly has a smile on his or her face despite the hardship in life and should not expect students to know that their teacher’s personal life is not always perfect.

In conclusion, a teacher’s job description is to give the best education to their students. However, the role of a teacher is much deeper than a pencil and paper. A teacher is there to shape a student into the person he or she is striving to be knowingly or unknowingly, and should not expect their school or the world to owe them anything more than a job well done in preparing the students to be future leaders to help the next generation of young learners. A good teacher will have patience because each student is different. A good teacher can adapt when handling the size of a class and managing the many types of personalities in the classroom.

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A good teacher is open and warm-hearted in listening to a student’s needs. Finally, a good teacher should have the energy to give their best effort by getting enough rest. What is the Role of the Teacher?

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