Characteristics of a Good Teacher

The chief characteristics of a good teacher are:

Empathy: Empathy means to feel how the other person is feeling, i.e. to put oneself in the other person’s shoes. As a teacher, we need to deal with all kinds of students. Some are fast learners, while some may take more time to grasp a concept.

Teachers should empathize with such students and explain the concept in a way that slow learners get engaged and internalize the concept with ease.

Patience: A teacher who is patient to the learning needs of the students is the best teacher.

Students have different learning curves therefore, a teacher who prepares their lessons accordingly will have a more engaging class. Being patient to different learning curves is vital because this ensures all students will take an active part in the learning process, leading to real learning.

Communication:

Teachers need to be effective communicators for their message to be audible and that sinks well with the learners. Their communication should be clear, audible and devoid of any regional touch for the students to grasp it well.

During assembly or events, their clear communication impresses students to emulate them and improve upon their communication.

Continuous Learner

Teachers should be motivated enough to learn and improve upon their topics so that they improve their teaching further. This is one of the main characteristics of a good teacher.

With AI tools, teachers would be judged because senior students may learn the topics beforehand using Chat GPT or Deep seek.  

Therefore, teachers should consult new ICT tools apart from books alone to improve their teaching quality. Those dedicated to their subjects with a passion for learning make the best teachers.

Team Work

Educators will have to do a variety of roles apart from teaching, like invigilation duty, admin work, attending FDPs, workshops etc. that require teamwork and behavior skills.

Therefore, educators should be able to gel well with their colleagues in order to develop a healthy work environment.

Love for Teaching

Like for excellence in any other profession, teachers should love their profession because their passion for teaching will drive excellence. They should devise new and better ways to teach a concept so that students enjoy spending time in the class.

Creativity

Students enjoy learning through creative means therefore, the teachers should prepare TLMs that make the topic easy to understand. With smart classes now available in almost all schools, teachers should use all ICT tools to make the topic easy to grasp for the learners.

Active Listeners

Teachers should be active listeners because they will deal with students, parents, colleagues and the school administration regularly.

They will receive a lot of feedback from parents, school admin regarding their teaching. Therefore, being active listeners they can further improve their teaching, leading to better performance.

Adaptable

Teachers need to change their teaching styles as per the need of the class. If there are slow learners, then teachers should make the topics easier for them to understand. Further, if students are losing interest, then educators should make the topics engaging for the students. This is one of the primary characteristics of a good teacher.

Free of Bias

Teachers should be free from any king of bias because they teach a diverse class of students coming from different backgrounds and communities. They should give ample opportunities to all so that no student feels sidelined or neglected.

What are the characteristics of a Good Teacher

Preparation

Teachers should prepare their topics in advance so that they are confident while teaching in class. This will engage the students because they will find the topics interesting as the teacher has prepared them well. Further confident teachers command student’s respect because they can answer most queries with ease.

Real Life Application

Students may question the relevance of topics in the current world scenario and especially for STEM teachers. Therefore educators should correlate the relevance of topics being taught in the real world. This will nurture student engagement leading to the achievement of learning objectives.

With the advent of AI tools, educators should focus to connect with students because they will come prepared with the topic beforehand. In fact it’s good for teachers because they can clarify topics much faster to students. Teachers should employ AI tools to make the concept easier for the students to understand thus fostering engagement.

Times are changing fast and with the advent of NEP the focus is on real learning and not rote learning. Therefore the most important characteristic of a good teacher is to make the topic easy to understand so that the student gets engaged in the class leading to real learning.

A teacher can be very knowledgeable, but to be effective, they must also be able to explain things in a way that students understand. Teaching is a challenging job because you have to explain topics in a manner that students grasp them with ease. This requires thorough preparation and practice.

Where teachers are lacking

The single most handicap towards effective teaching is teachers aren’t able to connect with learners. They feel just lecturing out the topic without student interaction will work. It will not. The average concentration time is 20-25 minutes for an individual.

Educators should present their topics in an engaging manner and then ask probing questions to unearth student understanding. This way students will be attentive in class because it’s a 2 way interaction. Those who cannot grasp the topic in the first place should not be reprimanded and the teacher should explain it again till the concept is internalized.

STEM teachers have a major role to play because they will nurture future scientists, engineers, and drone designers crucial for India’s security and dominance. STEM subjects are best understood through lab experiments because that shows real life application.

Teachers should demonstrate lab outcomes by showing the results in lab. This ensures real learning because students observe application of the concept in real life.

The motto of teaching should be to learn for application in real life rather than for exams. Until our educators brace to teach for real life application and not just marks we will struggle to nurture innovators.

Educators need to generate a genuine interest in Science & Technology because this will ensure a strong and resurgent Viksit Bharat.