Teachers must promote an environment conducive to learning.
By its very nature, teaching is an immensely difficult profession, but the rewards can also be immense. However, all teachers can fall into a rut, which prevents students from learning effectively and the teacher from working to their full potential. There are simple steps to take if you find yourself in one of these ruts, but the first step to becoming a better teacher is convincing yourself that you have the drive to become one.
Developing better listening skills can help people become better teachers.
The key to effective teaching, as many teachers will tell you, is energy. No, you don’t have to walk around the classroom or put on a stand-up comedy show for your class; in fact, that approach won’t make you a better teacher. This will cause students to wait longer for a program than for an educator. But energy is vital. If you are exhausted and tired, your students will respond in the same way. Likewise, if you approach the topic with real passion and enthusiasm, chances are your students will emulate you too.
Teachers should encourage students to seek help when they need it.
Probably one of the most difficult aspects of teaching is the relationship between teacher and student. Due to age difference, generational dissonance, and differences in interests and mannerisms, teachers and students may not be able to find common ground easily. To become a better teacher, you need to put that behind you and do something that seems obvious but is actually a huge challenge for some educators: listen to your students. When given the opportunity to express themselves, students almost always impress.
Encouraging group learning is useful in a classroom setting.
But there is a catch: to encourage students to express themselves, the teacher must promote an environment conducive to discussion and expression. This can be particularly difficult for subjects like math, where there isn’t much of a gray area between correct and incorrect answers. But that’s one of the challenges of becoming a better teacher: being innovative enough to change the atmosphere of the classroom and allow students enough intellectual space to exercise their brain muscles. Maintaining a disciplined and structured environment is important, but it can become overwhelming when the rules outweigh the freedom to express ideas.
Teachers must develop a good relationship with their students.
On the other hand, in subjects such as literature or writing, the teacher must remember that their own ideas and opinions do not necessarily coincide with those of the students. In fact, consider yourself successful if your students are forming ideas and opinions that are consistently different or contrary to your own; this means that you have inspired them to think beyond what they have been told. Spitting up isn’t necessarily learning, and if your students are simply repeating what you’ve told them, it might be time to boost their energy.
Students often respond to the atmosphere created for them by their teachers.
There are no magic secrets that will make you a better teacher, but students will respond to the atmosphere you create for them. If you create a consistently engaging and stimulating environment, your students will be interested and stimulated. If you stand in front of the blackboard and keep talking in a monotone because you are bored and tired, your students will do the same. You set the tone, so think carefully about what you hope to accomplish.