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Are qualities Important? Haven’t we all heard the phrase, “Quality is better than quantity?” I believe most of us have come across this phrase like when someone wants to buy cheaper items at the price of many and they hear this phrase. In my thinking this means, what matters more is how much you can get out of it rather than how many you can get in number. For Example, there are many health benefits you can get from plant-based milk, than from cow’s milk, yet plant based milk is more expensive and so, most prefer to buy many bottles of cow’s milk than a few plant-based bottles. This leads me to saying the importance of a teacher is in their quality, the good or bad that they possess and bring to the table. In this piece of writing I have listed a few personal qualities that I believe are important for an English teacher to possess. Passion and Love In all my levels of being a student I have come to believe that a person decides to stand before a people/a person to equip them with knowledge because it’s something they love and enjoy doing. Passion is a quality that I believe an English teacher should have. This is what keeps them going despite the challenges that come with being a teacher, this is what drives them to wake up and look forward to instilling someone with knowledge and without it I don’t think anyone would just decide to be a teacher. Patience A class may have many students in the same level of study but with different capabilities. This does not mean the students are not properly grouped but that some may need more than one demonstration or repetition to understand, and this is where this other important quality comes in. Patience, “the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like,” (2020 Dictionary.com,LLC) is a quality that an English teacher needs. A teacher may come across an intelligent group of learners who just take a bit longer to grasp or practice what they are being taught and this needs patience. Endurance with Courage Like a runner on a track racing towards that finish, feeling the pressure, fatigued but still running English teachers need the same spirit. Endurance with courage is a quality that English teachers need, the strength to keep teaching and believing that their efforts are not in vain and the ability to take courage and keeping going at it. I’ve seen teachers marking assignments, standing up to explain again, handing out more worksheets, marking again and still coming back the next day to ensure that the few who still haven’t understood are at par with the rest of the class and this takes endurance and courage. Allowing that voice to keep whispering to you, “keep going, they’ll get.” Capacity to grow and creativity We are constantly seeing phones being modified one from another this is due to growth and growth may come with something new; creativity. I could not find a way to separate these two because I really feel they work well together. Growth and creativity are such an important team of qualities that English teachers need. In addition, ability to allow ourselves to “think out of the box,” is important regardless of the level that we are teaching. The dynamics of the class may need to change once in a while, a lesson on animals may be done at the zoo, a lesson about family may require students to bring their photo albums, whatever it is we decide to do with the class must allow us to be creative and grow. Students constantly need to be captivated, this pushes us teachers to be willing to learn and allow ourselves to grow by engaging them in activities that we may have not done before. Can we then say the best teacher is one who loves what he/she is doing, one who allows him/herself to do things that are out of the ordinary, who is patient and willing to endure with courage? There are many other personal qualities that are important for English teachers, and there really isn’t a criteria for teachers but these few qualities stood out for me. I believe these qualities would produce a great English teacher. Thus saying, qualities are important! References: 2020 Dictionary.com,LLC
