What makes a good teacher?

What makes a good teacher? This is the question that I’ve been thinking about ever since I became a teacher and the answers are yet to be found. I still remember one time when I was really confused about this question, I typed it in the Google search column and got 88,500,000 results. What a great number! Yet unfortunately, the answers didn’t help a lot. However, it did make me realize that there were numbers of answers to this seemingly simple question and numbers of ways to get to the destination of being a good teacher and everyone had his or her own way. Then I started to head for my way and as the years went by, things are getting clearer.

I believe many people will think love and passion are dispensable to teaching. If I were still at the very beginning of teaching, I would have nodded my head off for it. Yet my first year of teaching told me that was far beyond enough. I loved my students and my work in the first year. Nonetheless, I didn’t do the work well and my class was quite a mess. Then I realized something was wrong and I began to reflect myself and found that I always did the things I was told to do. I acted like a blind person, not knowing where I was going. I didn’t have the sense of purpose. But to make things more effective and efficient, we need to be aware of the purposes and the aims when we make decisions and take actions. Only in this way, we won’t get lost in the oceans of possible answers.

My second year of teaching lets me know the importance of holding expectations of success for my students. Everyone needs recognition, everyone has the desire to succeed, but not everyone has the confidence. So when the students are upset, we teachers need to show up and encourage them, to help them build up their confidence. Teenage students are not complicated, but they usually don’t see themselves clearly. Therefore, if we paint their portraits for them, we show our expectations to them, they will take what we expect as their own expectations and will work hard for it.

When it comes to my third year of teaching, I learn more. My students have changed a lot in these three years, which urges me to change, too. We can’t stick to one method for ever, but if the one method is being able to adapt and change, it will work fine. Good teachers should not be afraid of changes. Quite on the contrary, they should be able to change and adapt to meet students’ needs. We need different methods dealing with different students or students at different ages. Besides, I find reflection really important. Only if you reflect yourself, will you find what you have done properly and what you fail to make it. It helps you to progress and go farther. Last but not least, enjoy our work. If you don’t enjoy doing something, you may never do it well.

The sense of purpose, holding expectations of success for students, willingness to change and adapt to meet students’ needs, being reflective and enjoy our work are the five elements I found important to be a good teacher. Many more qualities are yet to be revealed. And I will try harder and do better in the coming years to turn myself into a better teacher.