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Classful

It can be easy to think of teaching as passing on skills to others.

But to be successful as an educator, it’s just as important for teachers to have the right skills to help their students succeed. After all, if you’re the primary person supporting those students through education, you want to give them the best chance of doing well. Teaching skills may vary from teacher to teacher, but a few skills and traits should be universal for those who are cut out to be great teachers.

Do the skills of teachers make all that much of a difference to students? Similarly to how every child is the same, each teacher brings something different to the table. But those fundamental skills that form the foundation of teaching are a must to foster and maintain to provide the best learning environment for students. Teaching skills offer better ways to be effective as a teacher, enjoy the experience more, and not get hung up on all the little things.

Do you want to know what teaching skills are necessary for successful educators? Read on for just a few and to find out why they’re not optional when it comes to offering the best education to your students:

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1. Patience in all things

Any parent or teacher will tell you that patience is one thing you must learn quickly when spending time with children or teenagers daily. Patience is an incredibly vital skill for educators and is highly transferable across various situations. Children enjoy testing the patience of the adults around them and pushing their boundaries as far as possible. This is something that even the most likable, efficient, and effective teacher can’t change.

As a quality, patience allows you to wade through distractions and emotions to get to the other side and keep your students going with their education. As a skill, patience can ensure that you’re able to meet your goals and help even the most challenging students to succeed. It’s also a skill that can be learned if you’re not inherently patient – whether through mindfulness techniques or counting backward from 20, there are plenty of methods to help you improve your ability to be patient with your class.

2. Creative flair

Creativity is about far more than just paper and paints. Creativity comes in a wide range of forms for teachers, all of which work together to benefit the classroom and students. Thinking outside the box can be a valuable addition to your skills toolbox and is worth investing time in to add a little more creativity into your daily work life. Here are just some examples where a little creative skill can go a long way:

  • Planning lessons and deciding on new ways to help your class learn
  • Creating a new perspective on a subject to help children understand complicated concepts
  • Providing interactive and fun lessons your students will love
  • Managing discipline more effectively in the classroom

While some people feel that you’re either born with creativity or not, the skill can be developed with a little extra effort, insight, and understanding. Not everything has to be a work of art, but by injecting creativity into your student’s classroom, you can offer lessons that stick and give your students something to look forward to at school.

3. Effective communication – with students and peers

Communication is vital for just about any professional. Still, as a teacher, it’s even more critical that we’re open and available to both our students and our peers – as well as teacher and administration. Communication with students is vital to understand how well they understand what you’re teaching and getting a feel of how your class is doing overall. Collaborating with other teachers is also vital for teachers who want to succeed, offering a way to collate more information, get a little more insight into problems you may be having and even understand things from a different perspective. Learning to listen is just as important as knowing when to talk; for educators, communication can mean the difference between success and fall behind.

4. A positive outlook

Being positive can be difficult some days, especially if everything isn’t going right. Maybe your classroom is particularly loud, or your lesson plan has fallen to pieces throughout the day. Whatever the reason, it can be quite easy for teachers to become negative – something that often reflects upon their students. Instead, working to be personable, likable, and positive can make all the difference to the state of your classroom.

Being able to engage with your students and positively speak to them not only makes you more approachable to your students, but it also helps you get through each day too. You can incorporate positivity more into your students’ days, too, by encouraging them to be upbeat or engaging with their peers and you.

5. Excellent willpower

Willpower, or self-discipline, is an especially important skill for teachers. All too often, it can feel like we’re seconds from losing our temper or being unable to gain control of a particularly tricky class or even a particularly challenging student. The ability to take a deep breath, take a step back and be a little fairer with your discipline is an essential talent that provides your students with consistent messaging and understanding that even the worst behavior cannot sway you. Willpower means not giving in but knowing when to step back and take stock of a situation when you’re in it up to your neck.

These skills, plus many more, are vital to being an excellent teacher. But when providing your students with the best education possible, don’t be afraid to be yourself. Teaching is done best when your whole heart is in it, so incorporate that into your curriculum if you’re more creative in your personality. Perhaps you love musicals or enjoy the opportunity to get outside and work in the sunshine. Finding something that works for you and your student is easy using your teaching skills and talents.

What teaching skills do you consider must-haves for educators?