What does it mean to be a good teacher?

We have all been students at some point in our lives. And during that stage we have met a multitude of teachers and some of them stood out for their ability. But what are the qualities that make someone a good teacher? Educational psychologists have tried to solve this question for a long time, and in this article we are going to talk about the conclusions they have reached.

Before starting to talk about the qualities to be a good teacher, it is necessary to comment that we are facing one of the most complex professions. Educational and instructional processes require intelligence and precision, The simple fact of knowing them and knowing how to act with them is already a difficult task. And a teacher does not only face this problem, he also has to know how to deal with students and their individual conditions.

Qualities to be a good teacher

Studies have shown that educational quality increases when the teacher meets certain aspects. You have them below:

Competence in the subject

It is essential that the teacher has a good command of the subject he is going to teach. Of course, this knowledge involves knowing more than the terms, facts and concepts. Good organization and interrelation of ideas is also necessary. And it is essential that the teacher be able to debate all aspects of the subject and extrapolate knowledge to other areas.

Instructional strategies

To achieve good instruction, appropriate strategies must be applied. Nowadays it is considered that the most optimal strategies are those of a constructivist nature.. In them, the student is seen as a small theorist who builds his world. Therefore, the strategy to follow is to encourage the student to explore, discover knowledge and think critically.

Goal setting and educational planning

Effective teachers do not improvise their classes. They set complex goals for teaching and create plans to achieve them. Good planning takes a lot of work and a lot of time. But thanks to this it is possible to turn learning into a challenge and an interesting activity.

Developmentally Appropriate Practices

Students, as they grow, change the way they learn and deal with difficulties. Therefore, It is necessary for teachers to know the different stages of child development, so that they are in a position to develop instructional materials based on the level of development.

Classroom control skills

An important characteristic of the effective teacher is that he looks at the classroom as a whole, working as a team and task-oriented. To achieve this, it is good for the teacher to have a series of skills, such as defining rules, organizing groups, supervising tasks, controlling misbehavior, etc.

Motivation skills

If students do not have the necessary motivation, the quality of learning will be greatly reduced. Therefore, it is positive that the teacher has strategies to stimulate interest in the subject. In this sense, Effective teachers convert educational tasks into creative and stimulating activities that improve educational quality.

Communication skills

Being a teacher is linked to involvement in debates and presentations; therefore, oratory is necessary. A good teacher has no problem adapting his level of expression to the characteristics of the recipient. We are talking about communication that is not only aimed at students, but also at the rest of the school community.

Recognition of individual differences

No student is identical to another, each one has their qualities and learning profile. Being a good teacher implies having skills to recognize these individual differences. And not only that, also It is necessary that you adapt your instruction individually to each student.

Effective work with diverse cultural contexts

Nowadays it is normal to find a very culturally diverse classroom. Therefore, among the skills that the position of teacher demands is knowing the cultural peculiarities of their students, so that they only interact for the better in the instruction process. Your role will be to encourage students to interact positively and avoid cultural stigmatization.

Open and inclusive mentality

The cultural gap is not the only one that must be bridged to provide quality education. Topics such as gender identity, sexual orientation or neurodivergences must be normalized and included in the classroom. In this sense, the teacher has a responsibility that will affect the course of society itself: to create tolerant, open and empathetic people.

Assessment skills

An effective teacher is aware of each student’s learning level. To do this, he knows how to properly use the evaluation tools, and thus know the weaknesses and strengths of his students.

Although evaluation is a verification system today, it should not be like that. The optimal function of evaluation is to know the student’s status to guide his or her instruction. To know more about this point you can enter the following link.

Technological skills

Technological tools, if used correctly, increase educational quality. This is why good teachers have knowledge and are up to date with the new technologies that promote the educational environment. It is also important that the teacher is responsible for familiarizing students with these technologies.

Conclusions

Now that we know the qualities, we see that there are a large number of requirements to be a good teacher. It seems almost impossible for a single person to be able to meet all of these requirements. But being a teacher is a profession of great responsibility, and we cannot afford to not be up to par.

The teacher is a central figure in the development of instruction and the education of students. The consequence of a bad teacher, even one who is not good, means that some of his students will not develop their full potential. It is therefore so essential to take care of each of the students.

The current educational system comes from a way of evaluating and educating en masse to select the most suitable for a job. It is a Taylorist system. What does this concept refer to? With the industrial revolution, specialization of jobs began, so trained and specialized people were needed. Thus, what predominated was not so much the development of the student as a person, but rather the knowledge of him.

On the other hand, let us not ignore that, if we want quality professionals, we need training for teachers that is also of quality. It is true that attitude is very important, but the knowledge and skills acquired are no less important, hence Investment in education is one of the best investments for the future that a society can make..

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