Teacher as a person

Chapter 2 of qualities of effective teacher presents important characteristics that an effective teacher should have. In my opinion, the characteristics that I find pretty important and interesting are knowing students and listening. Knowing students, for instance, is an essential characteristic for a great teacher to get because students have to know how well students are performing or doing during the classes. Also, it helps teachers to know what the students’ needs are and which areas the students need some help for they to have a better development through the classes and through their lives. Moreover, knowing students allows teachers to understand each student’s learning style and to understand each    student’s personality with regard to some personal situations that may affect students’ behavior and performance in school. Besides, listening plays a really important role because it shows that teachers care not only about what happens in the classroom with their students but also what happens with students’ lives in general. If teachers are able to pay attention to students and listen what students want and what students like or dislike, teachers are capable to know better the students’ needs and interests. In this way, teachers can take advantage of these characteristics by teaching according to what students want, need, like or are familiar with.  Finally, I can say that these characteristics are closely related and seem really important according to what I stated above because if teachers are able to listen their students, of course, they are going to know them better. 

What makes a great teacher?

In every school, parents want their children to get good teachers, and they are really on the ball because researches have shown that the quality the teachers have is the dominate factor n hoe successful students are and what achievements students can get ; that is why, many people ask what makes a great teacher.

Well, a teacher becomes great by loving teaching and enjoying every single moment that he or she teaches.  Another important point is knowing his or her students and understanding who they are, what the students’ need are, and what kind of contribution they can have in the classroom are important aspects that a great teacher must take into account. Moreover, a great teacher has to know his o her subject areas really well. It is important for a teacher to be self-confident and to be sure and aware about what he or she is teaching. The teacher is the one in charge of making his or her students enjoy the school, and this is done by creating a good environment where the students feel comfortable and look forward to getting knowledge every day. The teacher enthusiasm affects and increases the students’ motivation. Some other important characteristics are:

•  The teacher has to know the students interests and strengths.
• Let the students know who they are as individuals.
• Smile at his or her students.
• Encourage students to participate in school activities.
• Spend time beyond class time to help students be successful in their class.
• Give students descriptive feedback on assignments.
• Show how what students learn is connected to real life.
• Apologize when students make mistakes.
• Give meaningful work
• The teacher has to be energetic, enthusiastic and has to enjoy his or her job.

In conclusion, I can say what makes a great teacher is being himself or herself all the time, being knowledgeable, having a good relationship and connection with his or her students, enjoying every single class he or she gives, and remembering all the time why he or she decided to be a teacher. 

Perequisites of effective teaching

For getting an effective teaching, alternative programs for recruiting and preparing teacher s have been devised, giving rise to research comparing the effectiveness of teachers from different types of preparation backgrounds. Also, some specified prerequisites are emphasized for teachers to get effective teaching.

Verbal ability

Students taught by teachers with greater verbal ability learn more than those taught by teachers with lower learning ability. As the book stated, the teacher’s vocabulary and verbal skills do a great contribution in the students’ academic success.  Since communication skills are linked with verbal ability, effective teachers with higher verbal ability can better convey ideas to students and communicate clearly. Thus, this prerequisite is pretty important because students taught by teacher with high verbal skills perform better not only at school or at university but also in the outside world.

Educational coursework

Teacher preparation programs in instructional assessment techniques, and methods and materials related to specific content area are really important because it focuses not only on the teachers’ development but in the students’ development. By having these trainings  teachers will be able to understand better hoe students learn and how they need to be taught ; that is to say, teachers with background knowledge of pedagogy are better to recognize individual students’ needs and customize instruction to increase overall student development and achievement.  In addition, teachers with better professional preparation are able to provide students more diverse opportunities to learn.

Teacher certification

Teacher certification status is related to educational background and to scores on some tests of pedagogical or content knowledge in a specific area. Well-qualified and certified teachers are significant for a great progress in the students learning. Furthermore, out-of-field teaching actually harms the teacher, as well as the students. Thus, uncertified teachers and out-of-field teachers achieve far less than with students than teachers with proper in field certification; fully prepared and certified teachers have a greater impact or gain in students learning than uncertified teachers.

Content knowledge

Teacher’s knowledge of the content that is taught is an important issue in teacher effectiveness. It is important that the teachers manage the contents of the subjects to guide the students and transmit the knowledge the students need.  Teachers with subject matter knowledge are better able to go beyond the basic textbook content; moreover, the definition of subject matter expertise must include the ability to convey and to teach the content to others, as well as having awareness of the concepts and ideas being taught. Thus, the ability to convey the content to students in a way that they can grasp, use and remember is important, but also it is not necessarily related to additional knowledge or coursework in the content area.

Teaching experience

Experienced teachers differ from cookie teachers in that they have attained expertise through real-life experiences, classroom practice, and time. These teachers do not have too much difficulty having a great repertoire from which to incorporate and organize routines for monitoring students and creating meaningful lessons. That is, teachers who are both experienced and effective are experts to know the contents and students they teach. They use efficient planning strategies, practice interactive decision making, and embody effective classroom management. To sum up, experienced and effective teachers are effective to do more in less time than rookie teachers.

 

All the prerequisites or qualifications mentioned above are essential and important for a teacher. All of them are closely related for an effective teaching, so any of them should be separated from the other because if that happens, the effective teaching lacks awareness of pedagogical principles and proficiency.  

well, I think the most important to me is educational coursework because a great teacher never stops learning, and I have had the oppurtunity to go a conference or training. it is admirable how much I learned there, so I can say that this really works.