Patience – It takes a lot of patience to deal with so many different personalities and learning styles. Kindness – Kindness goes a long way for every student that crosses your path (you never know what’s going on in their home life). Sense of humor – Will get your through a long day in the classroom. Passion for learning – teachers who love to teach never stop learning.

As a student I usually looked for this. 1) They were more laid back, they could enjoy a good joke and not get mad at everything unless it was pushed too far. 2) They didn’t give too many tests and were a bit relaxed on grading. They didn’t take off for too many spelling mistakes. 3) The last important one was communication, we like to think we can trust you. If a teacher yells at us because we forget our homework the very next day then we aren’t much apt to want to do very well. Instead just say they can hand it in tomorrow or not at all. My favorite teacher was always laughing, cracking jokes, and barely ever got mad. If he did something like locked the door on the student then we could all tell he was joking and didn’t get upset. It’s easier to love a teacher when they aren’t very strict and can tell them anything without them fussing. But don’t be too laid back, it’s a good thing to have a bit of a balance. My least favorite teacher gave us homework every single day, including holidays. Never let us laugh and, despite our hard work, never gave us a day off except for one day. Which was a day when we all brought in pie and laughed and had a good time.

To me, respect for the students is a very important quality. Without this, it is very difficult to gain the respect of the students. If we as educationists were to put ourselves in the shoes of our students, will we respect our teachers if they do not respect us? Probably not. It’s unfortunate and regrettable that there’s been a lot of emphasis on students not respecting their teachers but almost no emphasis on educationist according sufficient respect for their students. I personally feel that both are equally important.

An ability for educationists to put themselves in the shoes of their students are also important. This is especially so for educationists coaching and mentoring students at the tertiary level. This is because to a certain degree, there are some differences in the mentality of a mature educationist and an adolescent. An ability to understanding students in their growing-up phase is important too.

Patience is another virtue that is vital in the field of education. Being able to explain to students why being late for lessons is detrimental to their learning processes instead of openly reprimanding them in class is a very good technique to use. However, patience should not be viewed by students as a high threshold for tolerance. If students made a mistake repeatedly after several reminders, there should be some form of enforcement.

Warmest Regards,

Ghostrecon

http://www.patricktay.wordpress.com

An outstanding teacher can:

1. Connect with the students.

-Failure to do so will make them hard to read.

2. Convey the material in an understandable manner.

-Requires #1 AND a thorough understanding of the material yourself.

3. Make the material interesting.

-Hard to learn if you’re bored out of your mind!

Good Luck!

Empathy and the ability to truly engage the student. The first will lead to the second and in combination will create an environment where the student is hungry for the knowledge being imparted.

Sort of a positive feedback loop.

I believe that a teacher who shows they care about their students is a good thing. That opens up communication lines so that if a student is having a problem in or outside of class they feel comfortable talking to that teacher about it.

patience, flexibility and love for the profession- I’ve been teaching for 14 yrs and sometimes I can’t believe I get paid for doing what I love to do… every aspect is so very important to me