Qualities of a Good Teacher (Class Control and Good Character)

The qualities of a good teacher, which are essential to the success of teachers as the linchpin in imparting knowledge, are non-negotiable.

Teachers without the right qualities have difficulty succeeding and may end up becoming a threat to education in their classrooms and schools.

By the time you are done reading this as a teacher, a parent, or a head teacher, you should be able to tell if the teacher you know, have in your school, or are teaching your child, is really a good one.

Qualities of a good teacher:  Where does it come from?

Through training and schooling, educators get to know these qualities and their importance to their careers and the learners they come into contact with in practice.

However, making these qualities part of your profession, profile, life, and daily routine in the classroom requires sacrifice, effort, practice, and the desire to perfect your self-worth as a teacher.

Research has shown that learners, pupils, or students are stakeholders in the teaching and learning business that goes on in classrooms, and they are better positioned to disclose which teacher(s) in their school is the best.

The qualities that every teacher must possess to qualify as an excellent teacher.

In this article, we discuss good class control and management and good teacher character.

1. Good Class Control and Management

The teacher’s key work environment is the classroom, followed by all other sectors within the school environment.

Class control encompasses all the rules, processes, and steps taken by the teacher to help manage the class environment. It includes learners and the learning period’s effectiveness.

It requires the teacher to model ideal behaviour, lead students to set class rules and guidelines, and encourage learner initiatives toward disciplined and ready-to-learn attitudes.

Offering praise to others for good work done or good behaviour can spark the desire of others to also receive the same, hence helping in managing and dealing with unacceptable behaviours from others.

This also encompasses not raising your voice to gain students’ attention. Good teachers only speak when students are quiet and ready.

Teachers in this category put in place simple creative approaches to draw the attention of learners during lessons.

Using non-verbal gestures responsibly can help learners and yourself.

For instance, when there is noise on one side of the class, it is wrong to use abusive words to get the learner to act as required.

You could say “Come on, stop talking” and “Hey guys, be quiet.” in a way that gets the class back on track.

Sometimes, amid class noise, the teacher could start awarding marks on the chalkboard for roles in the class that are comporting themselves.

Keeping this on the board for the week can help students put up acceptable behaviour.

Again, students who are disturbed in the class can be made to sit close to the teacher to help restrict them from making the class unmanageable.

Another way to manage and control your class is to have well-planned and engaging lessons that introduce relevant individual and group activities.

This helps mute unnecessary class disturbances and helps you deliver lessons to your learners.

2. Good teacher characters

We cannot fully discuss the qualities of a good teacher without mentioning the good character of teachers.

The teaching profession demands that teachers demonstrate very high ethical and professional conduct.

We must extend these moral characters to head teachers, colleague teachers, learners, and other stakeholders.

To do this, the teacher must master self-leadership.

Self-leadership refers to how the teacher leads and lives his own life.

How he or she identifies with acceptable behaviours that bring respect and dignity to his or her person.

It helps radiate and attract respect and value from others.

Once a teacher can lead himself or herself and has personal rules. He should guide him or her morally, ethically, and professionally.

These qualities of outstanding teachers build good value systems.

This can be mirrored towards others, from the learner to other educational stakeholders.

A teacher’s good character is reflected in his or her work.

It shows up with parents, colleagues, and the leadership of the school.

Learners can tell which teacher is of good behaviour more easily than colleague teachers.

Samples of Decisions and Characters

The Ghana Education Service Code of Conduct for Teachers places emphasis on unacceptable behaviours and the professional conduct expected of its staff.

Refusing to teach your class because the learners’ misbehaviour is also bad character.

It is synonymous with refusing to take responsibility and putting the class back on track.

Teachers who fail to properly prepare for lessons and/or yell at the learners at every given opportunity need to assess their classroom management behaviours.

The qualities of a good teacher are requisites of the profession.

For some educators, the bad behaviour they battle with is a communication deficiency that surfaces when interacting with parents, colleagues, and even learners.

Poor communication habits can make colleagues or parents pass comments such as “This teacher does not know how to talk to people.”.

Such statements are red lights and call for teachers to re-examine their communication skills, among others.

Teachers who physically and sexually abuse their learners soon lose their respect among learners.

Again, those who come to school tipsy or with hangovers also lose self-respect and self-worth among peers.

Also, negative acts that go contrary to the code of conduct of teachers can devalue the good character and professional competence of educators.

One mistake, one feature in the media, and your life takes a quick dip down the drain.

Conclusion

Finally, good teacher character and classroom control and management strategies help teachers perform their professional duties as they equip them to work. A conscious effort to put these into practice helps the chalk fraternity.

In our next article, we will discuss other qualities of good teachers.

ALSO READ:

• 7 Principles of Teaching: Teachers without these must wake up.
• 20 standard-based lesson monitoring checklists supervisors use
• Stress-Free School-Based Assessment: How SMART teachers do it

We believe teachers have and will continue to come up with the best behaviours and practical classroom management strategies that work. Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Source:  Ghanaeducation.org