Qualities That Make an Excellent Teacher

Whether you are a professional educator teaching students in a classroom or a parent that is trying to educate their kids at home, there are certain qualities that make an excellent teacher that you should be aware of. If you can display these qualities while trying to help others learn, there is a much better chance the one being taught will gain value from the lesson and come back for more.

Patience
We have all had teachers in the past that would exhibit the patience of a rabid dog, meaning they would snap if the student didn’t grasp the lesson in a quick manner. Don’t lose your cool while trying to teach kids. It can take just one time for an adult to fly off the handle for that student to realize they are never going back to them for help. Just take a deep breath, teach the lesson again but in a different way so the student can maybe understand it better, and be like the Fonz. Be cool.

Entertain
Anybody can read straight out of a book or lecture at a podium. It doesn’t take much effort to be as dry as toast. Unfortunately, only the students with an immense amount of attention span will gain anything from it.

If you want someone to truly learn a lesson, you must make it entertaining. Add some humor, a bit of excitement, and combine education with entertainment and make it edutainment. When students are on the edge of their seats wondering what you are going to say or do next, they are paying close attention to everything that is happening around them.

Listen
There are those people who just love to talk with others, but they seldom stop to listen. Even when they pause for a moment, they are simply waiting to bring the conversation around about them once again.

A teacher who can listen, sit still and fully comprehend what is being said to them, is worth their weight in gold. Good listeners are hard to find. If someone who is presenting a lesson can also provide an ear to bend, there will be much better back and forth on the topic.

Love the Topic at Hand
If you have a love for the subject being discussed, it is impossible to contain the enthusiasm and it will generally spread to the ones who are learning. However, if you are just trying to get through a topic that you are not fond of, the students will pick up on that and not pay as much attention to it either.

Organized
A good teacher will have very little dead time as they go from lesson to lesson. Nothing quite stops a lesson in its tracks than someone trying to teach who is disorganized and searching for things on the fly. There is too much wasted time and the students’ attention will falter. Good organization will keep everyone on task and learning at a good pace.

Our tutors at iAchieve are always well organized and keep the lessons moving along. If you know a student who would benefit from one-on-one learning about a topic they are currently struggling at, definitely contact iAchieve and we can be of assistance. Our tutors can meet both online or in person.

Empathy
There are two tv fathers who continually exhibited empathy when helping their children learn about life. Andy Taylor from the Andy Griffith Show and Ward Cleaver from Leave it to Beaver always were able to recall how they felt in their own childhoods and could relate to the lesson at hand.

For instance, Andy Taylor was able to discuss with his son Opie how he handled a bully when he was a kid. Ward Cleaver was able to recall how horrified he was as a kid when his own parents would belittle him and he did not carry on this tradition with Wally and the Beaver.

If you are able to have empathy for your students, you won’t give up on even the toughest cases.

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