Tips for Becoming a Great Teacher

Enormously challenging, teaching positions should only be filled by those who have a great desire to be there. Where the development of students is concerned, there is no room for anything but consistent enthusiasm and complete professionalism. Before welcoming your students on their first day, consider a few key points.

Organization

Be organized. In almost any teaching situation, coming in without a plan is asking for chaos. Students will respond to your error unkindly by focusing their attention everywhere except on you. With a well-thought-out lesson plan and the focus and energy of the teacher, the class will move along more smoothly and students will be more engaged.

Prepare yourself for the entire school year, session or class. To begin with, know what you want to accomplish overall. Write out a plan for this. Clearly state on what dates major shifts in study will occur. Once this is done you can begin further planning by organizing into months. Weekly schedules can be written out once a week, on the weekends.

Know Your Stuff

Have a strong command of the material you are to teach. If you do not, you will not be able to properly convey the material to your students. If you can't grasp it, neither will they. You are their translator. This is true regardless of the subject being taught.

Convey the material on their terms. Consider how you will explain information to them. This is critical with young students who will not have the vocabulary of adults. Yes, you must know the material inside and out. But if you can't explain it to your 5-year-old students in simple, forthright language they will be lost. If you're teaching a part of a subject that is a link in a larger chain, then you run the risk of losing them for more than just one class.

Anger & Humor

Bring yourself to class every day with the right mindset. Coming to class boiling with anger, for whatever reason, will hinder your progression and that of your students. Teachers must be able to put such things aside during class time. Though there will times when you will want to scream, remember that this should not be a part of your lesson, even if the source of your anger is because of a student's action.

Show up with your humor and leave with your sanity. Humor must play some role in your teaching life. Whereas anger will repel your students, humor will draw them toward you. Using humor can be a good way to give them a moment's rest from a difficult lesson, for example.

Remember that your students' trust in you will be affected by both anger and humor. You must find the correct balance between maintaining authority and at the same time letting them know through humor that the difficult times are a normal part of learning and growing.