Jordi, Kienan, Lori, Daniel and Nathan have each provided a top ten list of what they thought were important qualities for a teacher to have. I have collated their thoughts and grouped similiar qualities with the students explanations under each set of qualities. You will notice there are some repetitions, this represents the number of times this quality was mentioned.
Organised, Organised, Organised
Organisation is important because a teacher needs to be prepared for lessons and plan assignments and due dates in advance.
If a teacher is unorganised it makes it hard for a student to know where they should be with their class work and when assignments need to be completed.
All teachers should be organised and have a structured lesson plan otherwise their students are going to run a muck.
Being organised for the lessons so that they don’t have to go out of the class and leave the students alone.
This is important because the teacher needs to know what he/she is doing.
Helpful, Helpful, Helpful, Helpful
Needs to actually help the students when they need help.
They need to be always going around helping and giving hints on how we can improve.
If a student needs a lot of help you need to help them and use patience.
Don’t be neglectful and leave them to figure it out themselves.
I think that the best teacher is a helpful teacher.
When a teacher is prepared to help students it can allow them to achieve higher grades and be more successful throughout their schooling.
When a teacher is helpful it gives the student more respect for that teacher and more motivation to get the task completed.
Approachable, Getting along
It is extremely beneficial for students if they are comfortable with approaching their teacher and feel that they are able to talk to them about their school work
and gain feedback.
To make sure that the students listen to you by making sure that they don’t hate you.
Students don’t listen to someone that they don’t like, they listen to the teachers that they like and respect. Not someone that they don’t like and disrespect.
Respectful, Kind, Friendly, Encouraging
Respect is important for both teachers and students as it is important to feel respected by others around you.
No student likes a mean grumpy teacher that is the teacher students give the most grief to.
Always telling us what we are doing well and keeping us on task.
Always have a smile and ask you how you’re going.
Provides good feedback, Provides good feedback
Providing good feedback to students is a great quality as it help them to better their work and be more successful on assessment tasks.
Telling us how we are going and telling us which areas we can improve on.
Reflective
Reflecting on lessons and how topics have gone throughout a class can help a teacher make improvements either about the task set or the way that a
topic was approached to make it more beneficial or interesting for students.
Understanding, Understanding, Fair, Spend time with all students, Patient, Patient
When a teacher understands it relieves pressure from students if they are unable to get something completed on a specific date due to illness or other extra-curricular activities.
Teachers should be fair to all students they should never have a bias towards anyone.
When you have lots of students there are some that get left out. I think teachers should plan lessons so that all students get time to ask questions and get help with their work when they need it. Sometimes you need just that little bit more help than what the teacher gives and it’s important.
If a student is taking a long time to understand something don’t get frustrated with them. Take the time to make sure that they
are understanding and if they are taking a while sit there with them and explain it in a simple way so that they know what they are meant to be doing.
They need to understand how we learn best and what levels we are all at.
Teachers need to be patient and calm otherwise they will find themselves going off at students too frequently.
High expectations
It is good when a teacher has a high expectations of work that is submitted as it shows that they want you to do well and further our education.
If a teacher has high expectations of a student they are more likely to push the student to succeed the best of their potential.
Passionate, Passionate
If a teacher is not passionate about their work then they shouldn’t be there as they will not enjoy what they do and it will then make it difficult for students.
When a teacher is passionate in a subject it is a lot easier to relate and get an understanding of the concept where as if it was something that they didn’t care about or didn’t know much about it makes it a lot harder as a student to become engaged and interested in that specific topic.
Approachable, Likable
If the students don’t feel they can come and talk to you or don’t feel comfortable around you or are intimidated by you they aren’t going to enjoy your
lessons.
They need to be likeable so they get along with the students.
Needs to be easy going and not too strict.
Authorative, Confidence, Smart
Can’t be shy.
This is important becuase they need to be smart and trained in the field they are teaching.
When you’re speaking to a class you need to have confidence, if you do not the students won’t listen because they know that you don’t have confidence in speaking or yourself and they can sense it and will push.
Whilst teachers need to be approachable they also need to have a sense of authority, otherwise the students are going to walk all over them.
Humour, Humour, Humour
A teacher has to be able to joke around a bit.
Students like a teacher that can make a joke once in a while. It is good when you don’t have to be serious all the time and be working 24/7. When you laugh it helps you do work because for the time you are laughing it lets your brain have a rest from working.
Students always get along well with teachers that they can laugh with.
It is important to have a sense of humour and not be so serious all the time.
Flexible, Open to change
Teachers need to be flexible as all students are going to be different and teachers need to adapt accordingly.
If something is not working or technology has been updated you need to be able to change with it. If the way you have planned your lessons aren’t working with the students you need to revise it and change it so that you can spend time with all the students so that they can get their work done.
Persistence
You need to have persistence because if there is a troubled student or someone that takes longer in understanding you can’t get frustrated or angry because the student will know. You need to work and just take the time to help people out.
Communication, Communication
Speaking to us about our work and not just giving us a sheet and telling to complete it.
Needs to be able to communicate and explain things.