Tips on Becoming a Teacher
Dr. Bob Kizlik
Updated March 19, 2005
From the time they are in first grade, some people know they someday want to be teachers. For others, the idea can be a sudden insight, or a feeling that ferments for years in some remote corner of their consciousness. Regardless of where the idea comes from, becoming a teacher is a compelling thought for many. As the "Baby Boomers" retire and leave teaching in huge numbers over the next ten years, probably more than a million new teachers will be needed to replace them. Perhaps you will be one of them. Perhaps not. Please read on.
This page is about some basic teacher-things. For sure, not every person who wants to be a teacher should be a teacher. There is a vast gulf between the ideal of teaching and the reality of the classroom. Teaching probably won't make you rich, and, to be sure, no one should make any career decision without gathering as much information as possible. This page is a start.
Teaching is like no other profession. As a teacher, you will wear many hats. You will, to name but of a few of the roles teachers assume in carrying out their duties, be a communicator, a disciplinarian, a conveyor of information, an evaluator, a classroom manager, a counselor, a member of many teams and groups, a decision-maker, a role-model, and a surrogate parent. Each of these roles requires practice and skills that are often not taught in teacher preparation programs. Not all who want to be teachers should invest the time and resources in preparation programs if they do not have the appropriate temperament, skills, and personality. Teaching has a very high attrition rate. Depending on whose statistics you trust, around forty percent of new teachers leave teaching within the first five years. It is obviously not what they thought it would be. One thing for sure, it's about more than loving kids.
Make no mistake; as a teacher, your day doesn't necessarily end when the school bell rings. If you're conscientious, you will be involved in after school meetings, committees, assisting students, grading homework, assignments, projects, and calling parents. All these demand some sacrifice of your personal time. If you're committed to excellence as a teacher, it's a sacrifice you can live with. If not, you will be uncomfortable at best.
Teacher preparation programs exist in every state, and the requirements vary. You will have many options from which to choose. Choose wisely. My own advice is to select a program that offers a rich and solid foundation of courses, regardless of whether you intend to teach at the elementary, middle school, or high school level. I believe that no teacher education program, including the one in which I teach, can actually teach you how to teach. Rather, what we do is get you ready to learn how to teach, and that takes place on the job. My advice is to choose a program that offers a rich balance of subject matter content courses and pedagogy, including clinical experience in all its forms. You are learning both skills and understandings in any teacher education program. Practice those skills as perfectly as possible, and strive each day to deepen your understandings of the concepts, theories and generalizations that you encounter. By doing so, you will build a solid foundation for learning how to teach once you become employed, and, you will be a better teacher.
From my own teaching experience and from discussions and teaching many hundreds of teachers and thousands of teacher education students, there emerge common threads of understanding and skill that good teachers weave into an effective personal style of teaching. Assess your own knowledge and values in terms of your thoughts about the following:
Good teachers:
are good at explaining things. Do you like to explain how something works, or how something happened? Being comfortable with explaining content to students is an essential skill for teachers.
keep their cool. There will be times when you will be tempted to scream or yell at your students, other teachers, parents, administrators, and so on. Good teachers are able to successfully resist this urge.
have a sense of humor. Research has consistently shown that good teachers have a sense of humor, and that they are able to use humor as part of their teaching methods. Humor, used properly, can be a powerful addition to any lesson.
like people, especially students in the age range in which they intend to teach. Most teachers choose an area of specialization such as elementary education, special education, secondary education, or higher education because they have a temperament for students in those age ranges. If you are not comfortable working with young children, don't major in elementary education!
are inherently fair-minded. They are able to assess students on the basis of performance, not on the students' personal qualities.
have "common sense." It may sound a bit corny, but good teachers are practical. They can size up a situation quickly and make an appropriate decision. Whether managing a classroom, leading students on a field trip, seamlessly shifting from one instructional procedure to another, assigning detentions, supervising an intern, or dealing with policy and curriculum issues in the school, there is no substitute for common sense.
have a command of the content they teach. For elementary school teachers, that means having knowledge of a broad range of content in sufficient depth to convey the information in meaningful ways to the students. For secondary school teachers, it usually means having an in-depth command of one or two specific content areas such as mathematics or biology.
set high expectations for their students and hold the students to those expectations. If you are thinking about becoming a teacher, you should set high expectations for yourself, and demand excellence not only of yourself, but your students as well.
are detail oriented. If you are a disorganized person in your private life, you will find that teaching will probably be uncomfortable for you. At the very least, teachers must be organized in their professional and teaching duties. If you're not organized and are not detail oriented, teaching may not be the best choice of a profession for you.
are good managers of time. Time is one of the most precious resources a teacher has. Good teachers have learned to use this resource wisely.
can lead or follow, as the situation demands. Sometimes, teachers must be members of committees, groups, councils, and task forces. Having the temperament to function in these capacities is extremely important. At other times, teachers assume leadership roles. Be sure you are comfortable being a leader or a follower, because sooner or later, you will be called on to function in those roles.
don't take things for granted. This applies to everything, from selecting a college or school of education to filing papers for certification. Good follow-through habits should be cultivated throughout life, but they are never more important than during your teacher education program. Read the catalog, know the rules, be aware of prerequisites and meet deadlines. In one sense, you don't learn to teach by getting a degree and becoming certified. You learn to teach in much the same way you learned to drive -- by driving. You learn to teach by teaching, by making mistakes, learning from them and improving. The purpose of a teacher education program is to get you as ready as possible to learn how to teach by subjecting you to a variety of methods and experiences that have a basis in tradition and research.
All of these qualities define some of the characteristics of good teachers. If it is not your goal to become a good teacher at the very least, perhaps thinking about the above will help you see other career alternatives. A good idea, when first making such a decision, is to talk to teachers. Find out what they do, and what led them into teaching. Do a personal inventory of your own values, personality, preferences and goals. But, whatever you do, don't go into teaching simply because you love kids!
What Makes a Good Teacher a Good Teacher?
Research* shows that citizens want teachers to possess four basic characteristics:
- knowledge of subject area
- sound teaching and communication skills
- a passion for teaching
- a love of children
What Are the Ten Traits of Highly Effective Teachers?
1. Deep Knowledge of Subject Matter
Effective teachers have extensive training and skill development in their academic content area. They work hard to keep their skills and knowledge current and sharp.
2. Instructional Planning
Good teachers do not "wing it." They prepare lessons in advance so class time is not wasted. Good teachers collaborate in planning with other teachers and work to align their classroom lessons with state standards and other benchmarks for student success.
3. Knowledge of Assessment and Evaluation
Effective teachers have a systematic program to assess their own efforts and to make appropriate changes. Good teachers avoid evaluating students on arbitrary standards.Instead, their evaluation of students flows from primary learning objectives that are clear to learners and their families.
4. Understanding Students and How They Learn
Effective teachers believe that every child can learn. Different students have different learning styles. One size does not fit all. Effective teachers tailor their instructional style to fit the needs of both individuals and whole classes of students.
5. Motivating Students to Learn
Effective teachers do not always stand in the front of the room and lecture. They create learning opportunities through hands-on work, small group activities, peer-to-peer coaching, and individually guided instruction. Good teachers make learning fun by making lessons interesting and relevant. Students are encouraged to speak up in class.
6. Creating Safe, Productive and Well-Managed Classrooms
Effective teachers understand that firm discipline policies contribute to a healthy academic atmosphere by emphasizing the importance of regular attendance, promptness, respect for teachers and other students, and good conduct. Good teachers understand that students respond to consistency, fairness, and structure. They make special efforts to ease the stresses and adjustment difficulties of children with special needs.
7. Technological Literacy
Effective teachers understand and have training in how to use state-of-the-art technology. They integrate technology into their classroom lessons. Good teachers understand that technology is a tool for increasing student interest, motivation, and achievement.
8. Understanding and Appreciating Diversity
Effective teachers clearly communicate their expectation that all children can and will achieve to the best of their ability. Good teachers have zero tolerance for discrimination, bigotry, bullying, or harassment. They promote tolerance, curiosity, and respect for other genders, races, and cultures.
9. Promoting Strong Home-School-Community Relations
Effective teachers make efforts to know their students individually and to build openness and bridges between homes and classrooms. Good teachers create multiple channels for communications with parents and the community members. They try to see the "whole child" and provide extra help, referrals, and assistance for children facing challenges out-of-school.
10. Commitment to Lifelong Learning and Professional Development
Effective teachers can work and plan collaboratively with other teachers. Good teachers are always growing and learning. They share successes and challenges with other teachers and see themselves not as an "expert" but part of a community of lifelong learners.
Emphasis on Teaching
by Marshall Brain
What is Good Teaching?
All students have had hundreds of teachers in their lifetimes. A very few of these teachers they remember as being exceptionally good. What are the qualities that combine to create an excellent, memorable teacher? Why do some teachers inspire students to work three times harder than they normally would, while others inspire students to skip class? Why do students learn more from some teachers than others?
If you are trying to become a better teacher, these are important questions. This issue of "Emphasis on Teaching" focuses on the four essential qualities that distinguish exceptional teachers: knowledge, communication skills, interest, and respect for students.
An Experiment
Here's an experiment I have done in a number of my classes. The results may surprise you. Go into one of the classes you are teaching and have your students take out a sheet of paper. Ask them to list for you the qualities they feel are important in a good teacher. Ask them to identify the qualities they admire in the best teachers they have had. Then give the students enough time to think about it and write something down. Five minutes is good, but ten might be better. Let them answer the questions anonymously if they desire.
What you will get if you combine all of the responses is a fascinating collage of ideas. I have found that most of the responses fall into two specific categories: 1) a set of "core qualities" that students recognize in good teachers, and 2) a set of specific skills that are developed by good teachers.
"Core qualities" are the essential characteristics needed to be a good teacher. I would like to concentrate on the core qualities in this issue, and in the future discuss specific techniques that can be used to improve your classroom environment.
Knowledge
In every survey I have given, students consistently and clearly target as the number one quality of a good teacher exactly what you would expect: knowledge of the subject. You must be an expert in your field if you are going to be a good teacher at a university. This is a prerequisite.
Communication
The second core quality that good teachers possess is the ability to communicate their knowledge and expertise to their students. You may be the greatest expert ever in your field, but what would happen if you lectured in Latin? How much would your students learn?
It is a common misconception at the university level that knowledge of a subject is all that's required to be a good teacher; that the students should be willing and able to extract the meat from what you say regardless of how it is delivered (even if it is delivered in Latin). This might be true at the upper graduate level, but elsewhere it is definitely untrue. It is especially untrue at the undergraduate level. The teacher's job is to take advanced knowledge and make it accessible to the students. A good teacher allows students to understand the material, and to understand what it means (because it is one thing to understand how nuclear bombs work, but quite another to understand what nuclear bombs mean).
A good teacher can take a subject and help make it crystal clear to the students. A bad teacher can take that same material and make it impenetrable. Or a bad teacher can devote so little time and effort to preparation that the material presented is intrinsically confusing and disorganized. A good teacher is willing to expend the effort needed to find innovative and creative ways to make complicated ideas understandable to their students, and to fit new ideas into the context available to the student. A good teacher can explain complicated material in a way that students can understand and use.
There is a saying, "Give me a fish and I eat for a day, teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime." This is the philosophy of a good teacher. Give your students an answer and they can solve one problem, but show students the techniques needed to find the answer for themselves and they can become self-sufficient in the field. Students need to be shown how to apply the new techniques you teach to problem solving.
Interest
A good teacher starts with a firm knowledge of the subject, and builds on that with a clarity and understanding designed to help students master the material. The best teachers then go one step further. Because good teachers are interested in the material being taught, they make the class interesting and relevant to the students. Knowledge is worthless unless it is delivered to the students in a form they can understand. But the effort expended making the material understandable is wasted if the students are asleep when it is delivered, or if the students can see no point in learning the material.
Good teachers recognize this, and work hard to make their material relevant. They show students how the material will apply to their lives and their careers. Bad teachers make material "relevant" by threatening students with failure on a test. Good teachers go far beyond this: they make students want to learn the material by making it interesting.
This is one of the things that makes research so important and vital to a university: research makes the ideas discussed in class exciting and important to the teacher, as well as to the students. If the teacher isn't interested in what's being taught, then why should the students be?