If you want to become an effective educator, certain qualities may contribute to your future success.
Classroom
Effective Educators
If you want to become an effective educator, certain qualities may contribute to your future success.
Of course, a love of learning and children is a given, but other attributes will help you to excel in this career path.
Let’s dig a little deeper into some good attributes for aspiring teachers. If your goal is to be an effective teacher who makes a lasting and positive impact on the lives of your students for many years to come, these will be of interest to you.
Education resources
What are effective educators?
Below is a list of just some of the main personality traits of successful teachers. Take a look and see how closely your personality aligns with the qualities that effective educators often have. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t feel that you have all of them, as they can be developed over time as you gain knowledge and experience.
Key personality qualities that effective educators utilize in their teaching methods
- Compassionate – exhibits interest in their student’s emotional health and physical wellness. Is happy to listen to students share information about their family, interests, and activities outside of school. Effective teachers let their students know they are always there to listen to them and are sincere in their interests.
- Enthused – takes the time to prepare comprehensive lesson plans that fit into the overarching themes of the semester. Effective educators are excited about the subjects they teach, and their enthusiasm is noticeable to their students. They make the material interesting and engaging and attempt to install the excitement they feel about learning into their students.
- Shows a high level of motivation – exhibits enthusiasm and a positive and outgoing demeanor that reflects their passion for teaching. Model for the students by being engaged during class and returning all corrected work to pupils as promised. You can also make corrections and provide actionable feedback as necessary.
- Treats students with the respect they deserve – an effective educator is fair and kind to all of their students, does not treat some children better than others, or plays favorites. They always try to deal with misbehavior respectfully and in private whenever possible; they actively discourage students from picking on or targeting an unpopular student and take necessary action to stop any bullying behavior.
- Levelheaded – does not allow themselves to act in an overly emotional manner or treat students in an unfair or undisciplined manner. If necessary, they will seek out a trusted colleague during the day to commiserate, but never in front of their students.
- Professional – behaves in a professional manner that is warm and welcoming but not overly familiar. Is keen to have positive engagement with students while always maintaining a professional and appropriate boundary. This professionalism carries over to their interactions with fellow faculty members, administrators, and staff.
- Optimistic – always pointing out the positive aspects of life to students and encouraging them to view life similarly. An effective teacher also approaches learning with a positive and engaged attitude.
- Consistent – a quality educator understands that learning is a lifelong process and works to instill that same understanding in their students. They are involved with school activities, both inside and outside the classroom.
- Self-improving – believes in constant improvement and is always looking for ways to increase their knowledge. They are also open to feedback and information to improve the overall quality of their teaching.
- Accountable – a good teacher understands that they have a lot of responsibility. They respect their position and maintain accountability at all times.
Effective skills for successful classroom management
- Management – a good teacher understands the importance of in-depth lesson planning and is effective at keeping everything moving on schedule. They are, however, not afraid to veer off schedule when that is called for.
- Order and discipline – students require boundaries, and when order is missing from the classroom, the chaos can make it difficult to manage the learning process effectively. Maintaining order and an atmosphere of discipline is essential to making the classroom setting work.
- Organization – great teachers are organized and make sure that they keep their students in the loop about schedules and what they can expect daily weekly, monthly, and semester. When students understand how lesson plans are organized and what the expectations that they face are, they can learn more successfully.
Effective instruction techniques
Effective instruction techniques allow effective educators to foster an environment where learning can occur. Setting the mood for academic achievement makes students aware of the expectations that have been set for them, and those boundaries help them to feel more secure and able to excel. When the educator is engaged with the students, there is a higher level of communication that helps both parties understand each other more deeply. This understanding is essential for continued success and learning.
- Engages students – maintains a friendly and approachable demeanor that helps them to connect with their students.
- Has high expectations – does not give the impression that “just getting by” is enough. Is always encouraging their pupils to increase their efforts and aim higher.
- Employs strategies – rather than winging it, effective educators employ tried and tested strategies that are adapted to suit the needs of each classroom.
- Uses questioning – open-ended questions are an effective way to communicate with students and help them to express their thoughts and ideas.
- Utilizes different learning styles – understanding that not all students learn in the same manner, great teachers can incorporate a number of methods that suit each of the different learning styles.
- Is not afraid to incorporate technology – understands that technology is a part of the present and will be a large part of their students’ futures.
- Is innovative – never one to keep doing the same old thing. Effective educators always look for new and innovative ways to improve their methods.
Effective organizational skills
Effective organizational skills are another way that effective educators stand out among their peers. These skills include time management and sticking to their plans. While organizational skills are good, so is flexibility. Effective education includes many moving pieces, and incorporating unexpected events into the day’s plan is essential to staying on target.
Time-management
Don’t let an organizational framework box you into a rigid plan that does not allow some time off-track. Teaching is not a profession where everything happens on schedule and as planned. There will be a lot of wrenches thrown into the works, and it is important not to let these disruptions throw your entire day. As you gain classroom experience, rolling with the punches and keeping your cool will become easier.
Disciplined time management – can roll with things that come up unexpectedly without allowing such occurrences to throw the entire day off-track. Follows organized lesson plans – while they allow some room for flexibility, they spend sufficient time on their lesson plans and stick to them throughout the semester. One of the key signs of an effective educator is their ability to introduce new and effective strategies to assist pupils in excelling at their highest potential.
