A Good Teacher

A Good Teacher
Introduction: Do you want to understand a good teacher? Go to a potter maker or a sculptor and observe the art of sculpting a statuette or making a pot. You would find a wonderful imagery of teacher moulding a students life. 5th September of every year is celebrated as a Teacher’s Day in the Indian subcontinent. It is done to honor the first Vice-President of Independent India and the second President of Independent India Dr. Radhakrishnan. This day gives us all a chance to celebrate and honor our teachers who have had a major part in moulding and making our lives. This article which will survey the qualities of a good teacher, is a humble tribute to the noble profession of teaching of which I am a part and also to all my teachers who have played a major part in my life to make me what I am.
A good teacher is a good student: The relationship between a student and teacher is undivided. There can be no teacher without students. Every teacher was once a student. A good teacher is a good student evolved.
If you are planning to enter the noble profession of teaching remember the very first requirement is that you should be a good student and remain a student all your life. By that statement I mean, that you should always be open to learn more and more about your subject. Knowledge is in state of evolution at all times and you should also evlove as a teacher. You should get better and better and possess the thirst of knowing and learning more. To be a good teacher , there is no substitute to evolving and upgrading yourself everyday.

A good teacher is a good friend: To be a good teacher, you should be able to maintain a friendly relation with your students. You should learn to make them feel comfortable in your presence. You should not appear to be dominating and ovebearing authority.
You should be able to maintain a balance between discipline and fun. If you are overbearing and dominating, there is danger of alienating the student from learning the subject forever. You as a teacher are the Ambassador of the Subject you are dealing with. So tread carefully. A student should not stop learning a subject, because he did not like his teacher or because he bears a grunt against his teacher. So laugh, have fun, play games. Be creative in your approach of teaching. But while doing this you also draw a line of discipline which the students should know that they are forbiddent to cross. If you befriend your students, you are helping them to love and learn the subject efficiently.

A good teacher is a good leader: Remember when you decided to be a teacher, you have automatically donned the role of leading the students. You are either leading the students in the right or the wrong path. But there is no denying to the fact that you are a leader who is leading them.
As a good leader is a visionary, so you should be too. You should decide where you want to lead the students at the end of the course, where should they be standing. So chalk out the direction you want to lead them in and then walk on it as they slowly follow you. As a leader be pointer to direction that the students ought to take, but also lead by an example. If the students find that your path is different than that you teach, they won’t follow your teachings and instructions. So lead by an example.

A good teacher allows mistake: As a good teacher remember that your classroom is a labrotary where students would experiment with different things and make mistakes. Allow them to make mistakes.
If you expect them to be perfect in the classroom, then they are no students at all, they have attained mastery. A student learn by trial and error method. Students should be allowed to make mistakes, but also they should not ignore the mistake, you ought to point to them where and why they went wrong and help them to befriend their mistakes and learn from them. As a good teacher, mistakes would be assisting you in teaching the students. They learn more from their mistakes, if allowed than anything else.

A good teacher bridges the gap between theory and practice: This point is very important for being a successful teacher. You could be a good teacher, you could be an intelligent teacher that quotes from Shakespeare or knows the in and outs of the Pythagoras Theroem but if you are not going to show the students how it is practically helpful, you are building castles in the air.
Students can only learn well if they are taught and shown how the subject you are teaching is practically helpful for them. Try to relate your theories to the practical world and you will be surprised how quickly the student would grasp the concepts. To teach about the burning passion of desire to be successful, Socrates once took a student in a river and drowned his face in the water so that he could not breathe. He took him out and asked, “What was one thing that you desired more under water?” The obvious reply was “Air”. Socrates replied, “When you want success with the same burning passion, you will be successful.” That’s bridging the gap of understanding between the theory and the practical.

A good teacher is a teacher who inspires: Finally let me conclude by giving one the most important part at the end. A good teacher is a teacher who inspires students.
There are many people, circumstance, events in this world that pull down or depress a student. So students out there are in need of motivation. You got to give him that motivation, that inspiration. The opposite of inspire is expire. If your students are not inspired, they are as well as dead. So you got to put life in them. You got to show them hope, not a vague dream or a fantasy.
A good teacher will help student find his or her hidden potentials, he will point out his weakness and encourage the student to take necessary action to eliminate his or her weaknesses and give fuel to his strenghts. You could motivate students by telling them great stories of great people, through your own exempalary life, by being at their side when they need you the most. A good teacher will always be available to go the extra mile for his students.
Conclusion: Let me conclude by this quote: A mediocre teacher tells, a good teacher explains, a superior teacher demonstrates but a great teacher inspires. Happy Teacher’s Day!
Joy be all yours.
Sohan.