What Great Teachers Are Made of

 Teaching is a calling. It takes patience, strength, empathy, and so much more to hold the hands of students and guide them through not only classroom lessons but life itself. A 2014 study in the American Economic Review shows the rippling impact that teachers have on the lives of those they teach. Apart from the quality of their lessons and their subsequent effect on test scores, teachers have a lasting impact on past students’ adult lives.

While the term “good teacher” can often be considered subjective, there are some qualities that all teachers should have. From being engaging enough to find creative methods of learning like putting together elementary school math competitions or entering the class into US math competitions to having the empathy to understand the multifaceted nature of students’ lives, good teachers embody certain characteristics.

Whether you have just started teaching or have been at it for decades, it’s always worth reminding yourself of these essential skills. Here are some of the basics of being an excellent educator.

Engagement

In high school and elementary classrooms, engagement is crucial. Engaging teaching styles allow educators to tap into students’ abilities, curiosity, and interests. Effective engagement involves meeting students at their level with content and communication methods that speak to them. It involves going beyond basic lecturing and teaching in ways that motivate and challenge students.

If you are a math teacher, for instance, effective engagement could come in the form of encouraging students to participate in US math competitions or creating elementary school math competitions for the class as opposed to simply solving problems on the board.

Patience

Whether you’re teaching five-year-olds or angsty teenagers, being an educator requires a level of patience that most professions don’t require. You are communicating with students, parents, and colleagues daily.

From dealing with classroom behavior to monitoring progress, you need to be able to engage with students in ways that are constructive and ultimately facilitate their growth. All of this means that in order to do your job properly, you need to be calm and patient at all times.

Empathy

Empathy involves seeing your students as human beings with lives outside of the classroom. A good teacher can recognize each learner as an individual and identify how their individuality may affect their status in the classroom.

Being able to adopt empathy can completely change the way you connect with learners and, ultimately, have a positive impact on how you teach and how they learn.

Adaptability

Teaching is often a life-long engagement. If you are going to be doing this for years, or the rest of your life, you need to be able to adapt. Adaptability allows you to adjust teaching styles and remain an effective educator when age groups, resources, students, and requirements change.

Adaptable teachers are those who can maintain patience, empathy, engagement, and all the best practices of teaching when everything else shifts.

Overall, there’s no doubt that teachers, along with parents, are responsible for how students excel in their academic and professional careers in the future.