Introduction
Teachers take the most crucial role not only in developing the minds of the students, but also in keeping the students interested and motivated to learn. Hence, the plan, processes and the very execution of the teacher’s plan should always be focused on the students.
To be an effective educator, it is not enough that the teacher knows how to teach the subject but also one must learn to keep and maintain the power of enhancing the students’ ability and skills through motivation. And as a teacher, he/she must know how to deal with various kinds of students. He/she must be well aware on how to be objective in his/her treatment keeping up with his ultimate goal, which is to teach and help develop the students in any way possible.
Discussions
The above stated qualities are the very attributes that one of my teachers has that is why I sincerely like her. To discuss specifically, below are the characteristics that my teacher has shown, which make me admire and like her as an educator:
- Clarity of presentation – The teacher that I am referring to knows how to communicate clearly about course objectives, content and testing, making sure too that she would be able to provide a rationale for learning particular material and adapt instruction to her student’s level of knowledge and skill. In the case of teaching languages, she also knows how to make her students realize the importance of knowing and learning such language.
- Review – I particularly like this teacher because she is able to review prerequisite knowledge as the foundation for new knowledge. Like for example, in teaching second language, my teacher normally begins by reviewing the students on the current language they are using. Needless to say, my teacher must make the students realize that they need to be fluent first with their native language prior to learning the second language.
- Planning – My teacher is very familiar with current research and at the same time, she, from time to time, develop outlines for each class, beginning with information about the students’ preparation and skills and prepares for contingencies and “opportune moments” for teaching. In this planning style, my teacher is aware of the various methods and/or visual aids that she could use in making her students understand the topic more. Or even the kind of approaches such as voice projection and hand gestures that she may use.
- Feedback – I see my teacher as an effective teacher because she not only provide ideas and knowledge, but also she knows how to ask questions requiring students to reflect, evaluate, connect ideas while providing clear and specific responses to student comments and follows a correct response to a question with another question. A one-on-one or group discussions and asking questions to and from the subject and students is her normal approach of soliciting feedback.
- Transfer of Learning – This teacher provides adequate opportunity for mastery of tasks, which is done by making sure that principles are understood before asking students to apply them and offering a wide variety of examples. For example, in teaching the second language, this teacher usually asks her student to tell stories or write essays about their experience while using the second language, and not their native dialects.
- Evaluation – Lastly, I particularly like this teacher because she does the evaluation process in a very logical manner. She would always solicit formal and informal responses from students during the semester and use this information to improve the courses as they are being taught, and also invite observation and suggestions from colleagues. My teacher sometimes opts to have various exercises and exams that would help her determine if the students really understood the new subject matter or not.
The above stated teaching styles, which my teacher has shown, are indeed essential, not only because they can cater to learners from all walks of life, but also because they can be applied to almost, if not, all subject matter that a student should learn.
Incorporating different activities for each of the learning session could be tiring for the teachers, but it always ends up rewarding and fruitful, especially for the students’ sake.
There are lots of effective learning styles that teachers could ‘impose’ on his/her class… learning styles that are always geared up to teaching the students and making them learn all the possible thing that the teacher would want to incorporate on them. But the success of each of the learning styles will always be dependent on how the students would accept and react on to them.
A teacher needs to be very effective. To her/him lies the future of all of his/her students. To become an effective teacher, one must realize that there are certain aspects which he/needs to master and take a very firm grip on to – and these are the meeting expectations that the students have on him/her and at the same time having a well-balanced expectation to students, enough knowledge with the subject he/she is to teach, efficient instructional strategies, strategic classroom management and strong commitment to teaching.
High Expectations
An effective teacher always has high expectations for students, which also known as positive expectations. High expectations are not the same thing as high standards. Standards are levels of achievement. Research shows that a teacher’s expectations seem to be linked with a student’s self-concept and achievement. Therefore, it is essential that teachers ensure successful student experiences and reach high standards by exhibiting, with words and actions, high expectations (Curry, 2000).
At the same time, teachers also should meet the expectations of the students. it is imperative that he/she knows what his/her students aim to know with regards to the field of study she/he would be teaching and then provide it to the student. It would be also an advantage if the teacher knows what are the expectations of the students on the teacher per se. Like what are the traits that the students usually look for in a teacher and what to them should be the duties and responsibilities of the teacher, hence the teacher may be able to know hot to better treat his/her students.
Knowledge
Needless to say, to be an effective teacher, one must possess adequate knowledge and expertise with whatever subject she/he would be teaching. A teacher must not only create an impression that she/he knows very well the subject, but also he/she must be credible enough to teach the subject. To him/her lies what could be inculcated in the student’s minds; thus, he/she must provide the right knowledge and ideas at the right time and at the proper place. All these are clear reflections of what is in the mind of the teachers that will be passed on to his/her students.
Conclusion
Thus, I can proudly say that I did enjoy this particular teacher because she has proven to me that she practices teaching styles that are of greater value for the students and the school institution as a whole. More so, she is incorporating certain activities before, after or during a class discussion, which is one of the learning styles that have always been perceived positively by the students.
References:
Curry, Lisa M. Effective Teaching through High Expectation and Class Management. 2000. USA Gymnastics. Web.
“Motivation”. 1997.Excerpted from Chapter 11 of Biehler/Snowman, PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO TEACHING, 8/e, Houghton Mifflin. Web.
What Makes an Effective Teacher? Web.