What personality treats are needed to become a teacher ?

Hello,

Almost anyone can become a teacher, but it takes a special person to be a great teacher. To inspire not just a great student, but a great person, a teacher must rise above the crowd and make a lasting impression. Which characteristics make a great teacher?

Empathy

A great teacher is sensitive to their students’ needs. On a child’s first day of kindergarten, when they are crying for their parents and refusing to participate in class, a great teacher sits with them until they calm down. In middle school, when a child enters adolescence, overwhelmed by learning not just academics, but learning about themselves a great teacher is patient, understanding and available to talk. And in high school and college, when faced with the task of planning their future, a student looks for a teacher to provide insight and wisdom

Enthusiasm

Why should a student be excited about learning when their teacher is not excited about teaching? No teacher can be great without loving what they do. To excite and inspire a student requires excitement and a passion for the material itself. Enthusiasm is contagious. All it takes for a student to get excited about going to class is a teacher who is excited and whose positive energy fills the classroom.

Creativity

Creativity is key to captivating a student. So often when someone reflects on their education, they remember a particular moment in the classroom that stayed with them. They remember when a teacher turned the table of elements into a rap or used an episode of The Real World to illustrate an invaluable life lesson. They remember the group projects that involved more painting than writing, the role-plays and the fun games to test their knowledge. Showing a student something they haven’t seen before even showing them something familiar but in a new way is the surest way to leave an impression that lasts for years.

Dedication

A great teacher must be dedicated to their students, with an unwavering commitment to their education and well being. It’s easy to be enthusiastic about teaching when things are going well but teaching isn’t always easy. Like with any job, teachers occasionally have their bad days, but a dedicated teacher realizes the rewards of teaching are far more important. In the face of frustration, a dedicated teacher continues trying to reach each of their students, and they exercise the patience needed to ensure that a disinterested student still learns. This requires being flexible and adapting to each student. A great teacher never gives up.

Discipline

When it comes to teaching, many people associate strictness with unpopularity. On the other hand, some adults look back on their education and remember their strictest teachers as some of their best. A great teacher imposes rules and makes demands of their students, but in a way that is not intimidating. Having structure in the classroom does not have to include being overly strict, and over time students appreciate the value of discipline.

Read more in:

http://teach.com/who/great-teachers-have-personality

Best of luck!

What a fantastic answer from Daniela Silva! I agree with everything she said. And I will add an additional trait to her list: Patience.
One certainly is expected to have patience with students. If you have middle or high school students, they may be experiencing the angst and challenges that accompany puberty. They may have hardships at home, they may have jobs and are irritable from lack of sleep--they may have learning disabilities.
However, remember that you are not just working with students. You will be working with other teachers, administrators and parents. A patient attitude and a willingness to listen to other adults is is every bit as important as having patience with your students. I encourage you in your career goal of becoming a teacher. Just keep in mind that your skills will be just as vital outside the classroom, with other adults, as they are inside the classroom.

Essentially, treat them like human beings. Your students are people too and communicating effectively with them, essentially means communicating with them. Be genuine, compassionate, caring, and show them you care about them as a person and beyond the classroom. Your students need to know that you have a genuine compassion for their feelings and that you care about what they have to say. This starts with building relationships with your students, allowing them to get to know you, and showing a genuine interest in getting to know them.

<span style="background-color: transparent;"> I am an English teacher, we work with other teachers of all different subjects. We have 5 teaching blocks or periods per day, 1 prep period, and 1 lunch period. Depending on the grade level the work environment shifts. But generally we are teaching different cohorts of students each period of the day, typically teaching the same lessons depending on grade and level, and or prepping and grading work. I love working as a teacher. </span>

It's helpful to take higher-level classes in Sociology, Psychology, and Human Development. Definitely take at least two or more 2000+ level courses in these subjects. You will learn about society and how it functions in a way that may be harmful to our student and how to combat social constructions and become more aware of them. This will make you a better teacher in the long run and having and understanding of sociology as a whole will make you a better person, help you understand your students and connect with them. Studying psychology and human development will help you learn about the way people learn (and therefore you will learn how to best teach your students). Depending on the phase of life adolescents and children are in, they learn differently, and their brain works differently as well. It is essential to have an understanding of this prior to becoming an educator. It will also help you to connect with students, parents, and families. Human Development and Family Studies will also allow you to become more culturally aware of students and families that come from different backgrounds; this will allow you to unlearn implicit biases and recognize them in yourself and others (and therefore, grow from them). Overall, these three fields of study are absolutely essential when pursuing teaching. Taking the time to take 2 or more classes in each of these subjects will help you become the best teacher you can possibly be. Other than these, the more obvious answer is take as many classes as possible in the subject-area you want to teach AND take education courses.

To be a good teacher, essentially, treat them like human beings. Your students are people too and communicating effectively with them, essentially means communicating with them. Be genuine, compassionate, caring, and show them you care about them as a person and beyond the classroom. Your students need to know that you have a genuine compassion for their feelings and that you care about what they have to say. This starts with building relationships with your students, allowing them to get to know you, and showing a genuine interest in getting to know them.

Teaching involves a number of different skills and qualities. I would say the most important are:

1. People skills - being friendly and working well with others. You will need to be personable, caring, kind, friendly, compassionate, and understanding. These qualities make a great teacher. But you also need to be stern and firm in your directions, rules, and discipline
2. Public speaking - every day in your class you will need to be able to speak and present information to your students, practice speech, and practice fluency of language and talking in front of others
3. The subject you plan to teach - become a master of the subject you plan to teach, make sure you know as much as possible and learn as much as you can about the subject you plan to teach. Take as many classes as possible in this subject and learn everything you can about it.
4. Psychology & Human Development - start reading books and research articles on human development and psych. It will be helpful for you to know how people learn at different stages and the best ways to teach them at these stages (depending on stage of development and schema).