10 Points of a Highly Effective Teacher
Teachers are important and make a difference. The quality of teaching is a crucial factor in promoting effective learning in schools. The setting of appropriate, specific and challenging goals is critical.
Research shows that the direct effect of good teaching on pupils is difficult to assess, as relating “good teaching” directly to higher attainment in pupils is almost impossible to verify. However there are many attempts to analyse what constitutes a “good teacher”.
Good teachers should have the following qualities and attributes to achieve a positive impact on pupils:
1. Subject and Curriculum Knowledge:
Teachers must develop an understanding of key concepts, the methods of enquiry, language that define the subject and how key skills of literacy, numeracy and ICT can support learning in the subject.
2. Repertoire Of Best Practices :
Provide learners with clear tasks, goals, requirements and inform them of progress made. A key skill in teaching is the ability to explain and describe things clearly.Provide an approach to teaching and learning that is pragmatic. Individuals learn at different rates and in different styles. (Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic)
3. Personal Qualities:
Demonstrate an empathy with pupils thinking, anticipate misconceptions and allow pupils to develop understanding in a variety of ways.Show flexibility in responding to pupil’s individual needs.
4. Competency:
Professional valves and personal commitments
Professional knowledge and understanding
Professional and personal attributes
5. Passionate:
Good teachers must promote effective learning in the classroom, collaborate with other teachers and possess excellent educational and social valves. Teachers are role models and surrogate parents. There is a vast gulf between the ideal teaching and the realities of the classroom. So to succeed in teaching you must have passion from inside of you!
6. Reflective Thinking:
Great teachers know when to make decisions quickly and when to step back and reflect. Teachers who explore their own teaching through critical reflection develop changes in attitude and awareness which they believe can benefit their professional growth as teachers as well as improve the kind of support they give their students.
7. Mastery at multitasking:
In today’s classrooms, teachers are faced with the daunting task of dealing with behaviour problems, questions, adjusting the lesson to meet the various modalities of the students, being a coach, a mentor, “fitting in” the curriculum amidst all sorts of distractions, and teaching character education. A good teacher is able to handle all of these things at once, with patience and determination.
8. Continuous Professional Development:
This consists of reflective activity designed to improve an individual’s attributes, knowledge, understanding and skills. It supports individual needs and improves professional practice. Attending seminars, training and workshops supports staff development and equip the whole school with skills to effectively support pupils and help them reach their full potential. CPD can be in the following ways
9. Flexible and Dynamic:
Many times, a lesson does not go as planned and a good teacher does not let that faze him or her. He or she is able to come up with an example, an activity or a demonstration “on the fly” in order to illustrate a point and further understanding. A good teacher does not see the lesson plan as rigid, but as flexible and dynamic as the students tend to be.
10. Procedural:
Good teachers must have procedures for EVERYTHING. Procedures make a classroom run smoothly. When students know what is expected of them, how to do things in the classroom, and consequences for not following procedures, authentic learning is able to take place.
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires”
William A Ward.