Teaching
offers the chance to change other people's lives permanently for the better.
As
a teacher you can help to develop somebody's subject knowledge and maybe even
their mind and personality.
Teaching
is an incredibly rewarding thing to do and good teachers are needed everywhere:
in schools and college classrooms to educate the young, as well as in the
workplace and other settings to teach adults and colleagues.
Skills Needed for Teaching
As
well as subject knowledge, there are some other, more general qualities that
teachers need.
As
a teacher, you should:
1. Enjoy communicating your understanding to others.
There is definitely a performance
element to most teaching. Our section on interpersonal
skills, including effective
speaking, covers this in more detail, and
there is a great deal of overlap with presentation
skills.
2. Have confidence.
You will need the confidence to
look calm and professional even when tired and stressed.
3. Work effectively in groups.
In a school or college, you may
be part of a group that teach at your level or within your subject. If so, you
will have to agree between you what is to be taught and how to deal with any
difficulties.
4. Motivate your students to do their best.
This may require encouragement
and/ or criticism, and probably a bit of both at different times.
Our page on Motivation
Skills provides more information.
5. Empathise with your Students.
If you can see that your students
are exhausted, there may be no point in trying to teach a very complicated
topic. You need to create a feeling that you are all working together towards
the same goal. This means building up trust and rapport.
See our pages on Empathy and Building Rapport for more.
6. Give feedback.
Whether this takes the form of
comments on performance or marking written work, it needs to be constructive.
Offer praise as well as criticism whenever possible and tell your students how
they can improve.
Our page Giving Feedback will help with this.
The Best and the Worst of
Teaching
What's the Best that can Happen?
·
You get to tell enthusiastic people about a subject that you
love.
·
You may have interesting discussions that push you to think on
your feet and expand your own understanding.
·
You see less-able students blossom and manage to get the outcome
they need.
What's the Worst that can
Happen?
·
Lots of outside work may be needed to mark work or prepare
sessions.
·
Not all your students will be enthusiastic. Children and
teenagers can be surly or downright rude, while adults that you teach may have
their own views on things.
Deciding What Age Range to Teach
If you like the idea of teaching
professionally, there are different settings in which it can be done. Each has
their advantages and disadvantages and there is an enormous range of jobs on
offer.
Teaching Younger Children
·
Primary, elementary or junior school teachers usually teach many
or all subjects to their class, so they need to be confident across all
subjects to a certain level.
·
Primary teachers get to know
their class very well indeed, which can be very rewarding.
·
You need to be very patient with younger children. They have boundless enthusiasm, but this
can be overwhelming at times.
Teaching Older Children
·
Secondary or high school teaching requires a real passion for your subject area
and a very good
knowledge within it. If you did your degree a while ago,
you may need a refresher course.
·
You will teach a
wide range of classes and ages, which means learning more
names, but seeing less of particular characters.
·
Teaching teenagers means that you have to deal with the
phenomenon that is 'cool'
– in other words, that it is socially unacceptable for many of them to show any
enthusiasm for anything. This can be very frustrating, and teenage mood swings can lead
to some awful behaviour.
·
However, teenagers can also be very interesting, idealistic, passionate and
funny at their best.
Teaching Adults
·
Adults studying for further education are generally well motivated and keen to learn.
·
This sector is not always well funded and there may not be many
jobs around.
·
Adults may also be juggling studying with work and the demands
of their families and will need sympathy and extended deadlines from time to
time.
In summary, there are good and bad points in
all settings. The best way to decide is to do some work experience in
different types of school or college to see what you think might suit you. You
may have a friend in teaching who can help you to arrange this, but if not just
try some institutions in your local area.
#smartstudenterp#
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