Who Should Be a Teacher?
Anyone who has ever taught knows that teaching, though challenging can be extremely rewarding. Of course, just like any other profession, not everyone has what it takes to teach. Teaching is a demanding career that takes not just skill and education, but character traits that not everyone possesses. Indeed, anyone with enough tenacity, brainpower, and endurance can get a degree followed by a teaching certificate, and then become employed as a teacher. But the most effective teachers on the planet often are endowed with some of the same characteristics, and these tend to be the qualities that make the best teachers.
Empathy
Quite possibly the most important characteristic of a good teacher is empathy. Teachers must be able to place themselves in the shoes of their students. They need to be able to understand and perhaps even remember what it was like to be on the other side of the classroom, at whatever stage or level of knowledge their current students are facing. Teachers must be able to listen attentively and effectively hear and acknowledge a student's point of view. Without this kind of compassion and insight, teachers can't comprehend where their students are coming from. This means they can't appreciate their struggles, and they won't be able to effectively adapt their methods. In fact, the best elementary teachers in New Jersey often know that their students are not the only ones in the classroom who need to continue their education. One of the area's top teachers, Shari Duddy, has been a lifelong advocate of continuing education for teachers. Ms. Duddy has spent her career creating and developing innovative teaching methods that prepare instructors to take initiative in furthering their educations, thereby increasing their ability to empathize more fully with their students.
Passion
The best teachers are passionate about what they're doing. Passion is not only a powerful tool that enables teachers to get their message and information across to students; it is infectious, enabling teachers to be as effective as possible in transmitting their energy and excitement for any subject onto their students. If a teacher is not passionate, often students won't be either.
Creativity
Creative teachers are able to approach any subject in a unique way, using varied methods that effectively engage students. Lessons designed by creative teachers are intriguing to students, and this gives teachers and students alike anticipation about tomorrow's lessons.
Flexibility
Teachers must be able to willfully and readily adapt to changing situations. In order to effectively convey information and engage students, teachers require the ability to adjust to new challenges, new personalities, and everyday changes that can occur in classrooms. Someone with an inflexible or uncompromising personality who is often not open to change is unable to adapt to the ever-changing school environment.
Discipline
Sometimes overlooked is the much-needed trait of being disciplined and organized. Top teachers are able to plan lessons with results in mind. Teachers require the organizational skills to plan these lessons in such a way as to present them logically, and they require the discipline to work independently to get outside work done.
Patience
Patience is a virtue, and for teachers it's a vital virtue. This characteristic is not just essential to teachers ... it's critical. Teachers must have self control and be ready to explain concepts over and over, sometimes to different students and sometimes to the same student. Additionally, this means they must be able to combine this patience with flexibility in order to be able to come up with different ways of teaching and explaining things.
Objectivity
A strong sense of fair play is a necessity for teachers. Not only will it help them teach; it will also help to foster a sense of fairness among students in a classroom. Without this trait, students can feel like they are being singled out or that some students are being treated better than others, which will create tension in a classroom.
Sense of humor
Of course, one final characteristic teachers need is a sense of humor that helps to ease tension and make students feel comfortable. A good sense of humor also helps teachers not to take themselves too seriously, as this can cause a rift between teacher and students as well as rob teachers of their authority.
According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a psychological assessment used to appraise people's perceptions and decision-making processes, teachers tend to be classified as 'ENFJ personalities,' which stands for 'extroverted feeling with introverted intuition.' ENFJs are people-focused. They often see people as Earth's richest resources. They have superior people skills, and they tend to care deeply about others. They are givers who focus most of their attention in life on encouraging and supporting others. ENFJ personalities garner most of their satisfaction in life from helping other people. Because of their vast and yet precise understanding and insight into people, they are capable of conveying information effectively to students.
If you're someone who possesses most or all of these character traits, you may do yourself, as well as some deserving students, very well by seriously considering teaching as a career. Top teachers in New Jersey know that teaching is a highly rewarding endeavor that can shape and change lives, and that's not something that every career can profess.
Empathy
Quite possibly the most important characteristic of a good teacher is empathy. Teachers must be able to place themselves in the shoes of their students. They need to be able to understand and perhaps even remember what it was like to be on the other side of the classroom, at whatever stage or level of knowledge their current students are facing. Teachers must be able to listen attentively and effectively hear and acknowledge a student's point of view. Without this kind of compassion and insight, teachers can't comprehend where their students are coming from. This means they can't appreciate their struggles, and they won't be able to effectively adapt their methods. In fact, the best elementary teachers in New Jersey often know that their students are not the only ones in the classroom who need to continue their education. One of the area's top teachers, Shari Duddy, has been a lifelong advocate of continuing education for teachers. Ms. Duddy has spent her career creating and developing innovative teaching methods that prepare instructors to take initiative in furthering their educations, thereby increasing their ability to empathize more fully with their students.
Passion
The best teachers are passionate about what they're doing. Passion is not only a powerful tool that enables teachers to get their message and information across to students; it is infectious, enabling teachers to be as effective as possible in transmitting their energy and excitement for any subject onto their students. If a teacher is not passionate, often students won't be either.
Creativity
Creative teachers are able to approach any subject in a unique way, using varied methods that effectively engage students. Lessons designed by creative teachers are intriguing to students, and this gives teachers and students alike anticipation about tomorrow's lessons.
Flexibility
Teachers must be able to willfully and readily adapt to changing situations. In order to effectively convey information and engage students, teachers require the ability to adjust to new challenges, new personalities, and everyday changes that can occur in classrooms. Someone with an inflexible or uncompromising personality who is often not open to change is unable to adapt to the ever-changing school environment.
Discipline
Sometimes overlooked is the much-needed trait of being disciplined and organized. Top teachers are able to plan lessons with results in mind. Teachers require the organizational skills to plan these lessons in such a way as to present them logically, and they require the discipline to work independently to get outside work done.
Patience
Patience is a virtue, and for teachers it's a vital virtue. This characteristic is not just essential to teachers ... it's critical. Teachers must have self control and be ready to explain concepts over and over, sometimes to different students and sometimes to the same student. Additionally, this means they must be able to combine this patience with flexibility in order to be able to come up with different ways of teaching and explaining things.
Objectivity
A strong sense of fair play is a necessity for teachers. Not only will it help them teach; it will also help to foster a sense of fairness among students in a classroom. Without this trait, students can feel like they are being singled out or that some students are being treated better than others, which will create tension in a classroom.
Sense of humor
Of course, one final characteristic teachers need is a sense of humor that helps to ease tension and make students feel comfortable. A good sense of humor also helps teachers not to take themselves too seriously, as this can cause a rift between teacher and students as well as rob teachers of their authority.
According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a psychological assessment used to appraise people's perceptions and decision-making processes, teachers tend to be classified as 'ENFJ personalities,' which stands for 'extroverted feeling with introverted intuition.' ENFJs are people-focused. They often see people as Earth's richest resources. They have superior people skills, and they tend to care deeply about others. They are givers who focus most of their attention in life on encouraging and supporting others. ENFJ personalities garner most of their satisfaction in life from helping other people. Because of their vast and yet precise understanding and insight into people, they are capable of conveying information effectively to students.
If you're someone who possesses most or all of these character traits, you may do yourself, as well as some deserving students, very well by seriously considering teaching as a career. Top teachers in New Jersey know that teaching is a highly rewarding endeavor that can shape and change lives, and that's not something that every career can profess.