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Tuesday 30 December 2014

Qualities of a good teacher

Teaching is one of the most complicated jobs. A teacher, unlike other professions,has not only to be very well versed in her subject but also must be an expert  in understanding human nature. A teacher has to deal not only with the students but with their parents, with school authorities, and general public. It is therefore essential, that she  should possess self confidence and should put forward her point of view convincingly. In other professions people have to deal with files, but here in  a school she has to handle children, living beings, who have their own  pattern of thinking and mind set. A teacher  must have  the following  qualities:
 1. A teacher must have a good knowledge of her subject.
How  can a teacher teach  unless she knows her  subject thoroughly. The children are very smart. They can guess that the teacher herself  has half baked knowledge. A History teacher was once teaching Boston Tea Party to  class xi children. She started  by telling the pupils that drinking too much tea is harmful for health and therefore the people of Boston  collected  tea leaves from all the shops and threw it in the sea. Can you beat this? This lesson was taught in front of an Inspector of  school.

2.A teacher must inspire the children
A good teacher must encourage and inspire her students by allowing them to talk and  have a healthy  discussion with the teacher. There is a saying, ''a mediocre teacher tells, a  good teacher explains, a superior teacher demonstrates and a great teacher inspires.” 

3.A teacher  must not use abusive or irrational  language with the students
She should talk in a decent language with the students. These days children are becoming aggressive and do not respect  authority. Treat such children with care. Talk to them strictly when required,and softly otherwise.

4 Do not show your weak points in front of the children
Once  during an Inspection  I happened to visit a class and asked for the written work of the class.  It was the month of September. The teacher had corrected  the class work, but the date of correction was shown as November. When I questioned her why had she put the date in advance.Her reply  was very shocking. She presumed that the school inspection would be held  after November. How will such teachers set an example for the children!! What impression such teachers will have on the children!
5.The teachers  must write carefully on the black board.
 Once  I saw several spelling mistakes in the text written on the blackboard.  The clarification given by her was that  she wrote it in a hurry, so the mistakes occurred.

6. The teacher should be  passionte about her job.

Only if there is passion  and a spirit of dedication, the teacher can  be successful. Her life must revolve around her  job.

7.A teacher must be able to motivate her students
\If as a role model, the teacher can not inspire   and motivate the children,they will feel bored in  the class. A child loves a particular subject only if the teacher  makes it interesting.

   8.  The teacher must have good communication skills

The teacher must have the quality to make har subject interesting. If the teacher does'nt  herself speak clearly, her  students will not conentrate on what she is teaching. I once happened to attend a class where the teacher was teaching Economics. The  topic was 'shares in
 marketing'.    The opening sentence in the class was,"there are two types of   "ser"......one found in forests  and the  other one is used in "weighing".  Ha,ha,ha,ha, the whole class could not control laughter. 
  (note; 'ser' is a Hindi word,which is a unit of measurement. The other 'ser' she meant 'sher' but but pronounced wrongly) 

9.   The teacher must  maintain her prestige in front of her students .
 Some teachers become too friendly with the students, with the result that their image goes down. Becoming too strict is also not desirable.The teacher must always adopt the middle path.

10.The teacher must not form ideas about students from hearsay.   
  Never form an opinion about a child from what others say.Judge the children according to their capability.Many teachers form ideas about the children from their dress or their looks,which has an adverse effect on the child.(Soon I will write a real story on this point.} The arrogant or offensive teacher lacks these positive qualities due to lack of control over the children. Teachers should assert that they should also be treated with respect and  ensure that students treat each other with kindness. 
According to an educationist three things are important in a teacher/student relationship. (1)  Eyes that wont cry,(2)  Lips than wont lie, and (3) Love that wont die.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

         Written for Blog-a-Rhythm week 28th Dec 2014 to 4th Jan 2015                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Witten for archives Blog A  Rhythm Qualities of a good teacher date 1st June 2015













14 comments:

  1. So very true - and sadly, I think great teachers are few and far between!

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    1. Yes Laurel, you are correct. Great teachers are are rarely seen. Thanks for visiting.

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  2. If only all teachers these days were like this...Unfortunately teaching is more of a fall back profession these days

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    1. It is unfortunate that teachers are more interested in private tutions. Thanks Naba.

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  3. Such wise words and yet so few can follow them! Such great teachers are a rare find now!

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    1. Rightly said, Inderpreet.. It is very sad that great teachers are no more seen.

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  4. So true and right.. I had a few wise teachers but sadly, such gems are few and far between...

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    1. Very correct, Pixie. Good teachers are a rare 'commodity' these days. Thanks for the visit.

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  5. I take it you were a teacher previously Usha as you have a lot of good pointers. It would be great if all teachers followed these guidelines! :) <3

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    1. Yes Elly,I did start my career as a teacher and retired as Deputy Director of Education.I I was closely associated with the profession.

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  6. very true. alas, teaching has become the last choice for many.

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    1. Right OnkarTeaching is no more preffered as a career. Thanks for the visit.

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  7. I completely agree with you, Usha!
    Being a student myself, I would like to add one more point:
    It's best if the teachers don't get too friendly with students on social networking sites like FB, twitter, Instagram. I remember one teacher at my classes, who actually wrote his social networking site IDs on the blackboard and asked us to follow him!

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    1. Thank you Mithila. Such teachers want to gain cheap popularity. thanks for the visit.

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