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CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD TEACHER

Teachers have the very important responsibility of shaping the lives of young,
impressionable children. With this responsibility comes great pride and joy. Therefore all
teachers should strive for what can be considered to be a "good teacher." A good teacher can
be defined as someone who always pushes students to want to do their best while at the same
time trying to make learning interesting as well as creative.
A positive or negative influence from a teacher early on in life can have a great effect on
the life of a child. Teachers, especially at the elementary level, must be very creative with their
teaching styles. Not every child learns the same way, nor are they interested in the same things.
It is difficult to keep the attention of 15-20 children under the age of ten. Classroom setup and
design is a good way to get and keep the attention of students.
Workstations are a good way to encourage different types of learning. By allowing
children a chance to choose which activities they want to participate in, children are taking
control of their own education. At the elementary level, children are always learning and
sometimes don't even know it. When I was in kindergarten, I can remember playing at the
different stations in the classroom. One station was for gardening and we could plant seeds and
check them every day to see how much they had grown. Another station in that classroom that
sticks out in my mind is the arts and crafts station. There was a large array of crayons, markers,
scissors, construction paper and building materials we could use to make pretty decorations to
give to our parents for our homes. By choosing which station we wanted to work at, we were
becoming much more interested in what we were learning because we were doing what we
wanted to do, not what we had to do.
Another qualities that a teacher should possess must be understanding, trustworthy, and
polite. I believe that without these characteristics, a teacher can be nothing to its student. I
believe that these are the characteristics I can offer as a teacher and so much more. Being
these things only helps. There are also some things that can only worsen the situation like being
stubborn, being unfair, and letting your emotions get the best of you. Those are traits I can be
guilty of also.
I've had many friends through out my whole life, and the thing about being a good friend
is you have to understand where the person s coming from, even if you are two completely
opposite people. Many of my friends are different from me, but I still try to understand where
they stand everyday. Understanding something makes you very open minded and less ignorant.
That is a quality I hope I pass to my students.
Trust is also a very important trait to have. You should always have the trust in
someone you think is trustworthy. Although trust is something gained, having faith with certain
people can lead them to trust you or vice versa. Being trustworthy is all about how much you
respect the other person. Without respect, people tend to tell more rumors than be mindful of
their manners.
Whenever I see anyone on the street I smile at that person. I believe that if a person is
having a bad day, you could have brightened up that person's mood just with that smile. Being
polite is a value that I learned from my parents and with time became stronger. In the present
time so many people worry about what is going on with themselves that no one stops to be nice
to the people that do things for them. Everyone works as one, and without certain people we
would be nowhere. I believe that if you are polite, you help yourself out and the other person.