Teach English in Beishi Zhen - Jincheng Shi

All teachers want to be great, though, what are the skills, talents, characteristics of a great teacher? below I will go through what I feel makes a great teacher . Excellent Communication Skills – if a teacher has great communication skills are good, then they can or convey the lesson with better skill and results. Some examples of communication skills are verbal, nonverbal, visual, body language etc. A large part of communication is knowing when the learners have understood a task/activity. A good teacher will notice when they have communicated the task effectively and when they have not. They will often illustrate, reword or try a different approach once they have realised that their communication has not been understood by the whole class. Communication also involves explaining exactly what the task or activity is. When learners fully understand the what is expected of them, it is a lot easier for the learners to deliver. Not only are communication skills important in the classroom, they are among the most important skills in any setting. In my view communication is important for long term success, so by being a good communicator, we as teachers are modelling the important life skills by example. Listening Skills - In addition to being good communicators, good teachers need to be great listeners. Teachers ask important questions and then actively and carefully listen to what the learners have to say. Great teachers listen hard and then use what they hear to improve their communication. Deep Knowledge and Passion for a Subject - Some might say that a teacher is only as good as what they know. If a teacher lacks knowledge in a certain subject, that misunderstanding can be passed on to the learners. A formal education may be one way a teacher gains knowledge to teach well, but there are other ways. Passion is infectious. It inspires learners to learn more and think harder about it, so passion inspires deeper knowledge. Great teachers are those that clearly love their subjects and pass that passion and desire to learn more on their learners. If a teacher has the right answer to a learner’s question and can expand the discussion with examples, relevant facts etc. then every lesson is enriched, and all the learners may be inspired. Building Rapport with Learners – It is not enough just to know what you are talking about and a great teacher doesn’t only teach from the head, it should also be from the heart. To create successful learning environments, great teachers need to be able to build caring relationships with the learners. This facilitates the exchange of information between the teacher and the learner. Caring about the learners is what inspires teachers to do better, communicate more, learn and improve. Also, it is a teacher’s job to help learners learn, teachers must be easy to approach. Learners will have questions that cannot be answered if the teacher is not friendly and easy to talk to. The angry, unapproachable, rude, all business teacher cannot last long. If the learners see the teacher as an enemy, they certainly will not learn a great deal. The great teachers are the most open, welcoming and easy to approach. Organization and Preparation Skills - No matter how charming you are, if you show up to class a good, thought out, lesson plan for hoe to teach your material, you will probably not succeed. Great teacher can spend hours and hours outside the classroom preparing, organising, learning more about the subject and how to deliver the lesson. The best teachers have great lesson plans that they continually improve. They have studied extensively and read how to teach and methods to help learning. Great teachers also participate in professional development and thinking of fresh and interesting ways to reach the learners. They also collaborate with other teachers and attend classes to learn more about the subject matter and how best to deliver it. They are available outside of class, give feedback positively to help the learners understand. A great teacher will also structure the lessons/classes in a way that maximal understanding and interest obtained. Work Ethic - Great teachers really want to be great teachers and they will stop at nothing to get there. A good teacher will do almost anything to help their learners. They will always make time and they are always willing to help. If something does not work, they will work until they find a solution. As they say ‘a teachers work is never done but the best ones never stop trying and never quit’. Ability to Build- Great teachers understand the importance of building supportive and collaborative environments. In addition to forming caring relationships with each learner, the best teachers foster healthy and mutually respectful relationships between the learners. They know how to establish guidelines and ways to enlist every learner’s help and participation. Every learner feels like the are not only accepted by the class, but their presence in necessary ingredient of the class. Classrooms are like little communities where each individual plays a part and feels at home. Expectations – Teachers expectations have a huge impact on learner achievement. The best teachers have high expectations for all their learners. great teachers expect a lot from learners, but those expectations are both challenging and realistic. Which does not mean they hold all learners to the same high standard, but instead they know what each learner is capable of individually and strive to help each one to achieve their personal best. This course has given me all the tools to become a great teacher and hopefully fellow participants of this course have taken out as much as I have from this course!