Whether you are a long standing teacher like Peter Benedict St Andrews‘ principal or you are a young teacher who is just starting out in the education game, there is always room for improvement. There is a stark difference between being a good teacher and being a great teacher and for the sake of the students who you teach, you ought to be striving at all times for greatness, just as you are asking them to do.
Teaching is a skill that can take a long time to master and if you are looking at upping your teaching abilities, here are some of the things that you should be working on.
Patience
Patience really is a virtue and it will be tested to its limits as a teacher. In order to be a great teacher you need to be able to be patient at all times, no matter how long it is taking for someone to pick up something new, and no matter how much your students test you with their behaviour. Being a teacher who gets frustrated and shouts is not good if you are looking for the respect and the buy-in from your students and in order to be the best teacher that you can, you need to be able to keep your cool.
Watching and Learning
To be a great teacher is to learn form those around you and find your own style that also emulates other great teachers who you work with. There is nothing wrong with bowing to someone who is a more successful teacher than you are and in order to improve, you should be watching and learning from your peers.
Analysis
In order to understand what kind of teacher you are and where your weaknesses lie, you should be asking people around you for feedback. Naturally it wouldn’t make too much sense to ask your students but you should be speaking to parents and fellow teachers to give you some feedback on how they perceive you. Equally you should be in a constant state of self analysis and if you can get to the point where you can be completely honest with yourself about what kind of teacher you are, and be able to accepted the criticism of others, you will be able to improve your teaching ability in no time at all.
Strengthen Your Knowledge
It can be easy for a teacher to accept the knowledge that they have and not really looking to depend it very often. Usually you will be teaching something that you find simple enough and this can lead to complacency. If however, you want to really get the most of out what you are doing, you should be looking to consistently be broadening your knowledge of your subject. Having such deep knowledge will only make you more passionate and more intelligent as a teacher which will have a directly positive result on your students.
