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Characteristics Of A Good Teacher

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hat is a good teacher?: A good teacher, at its base, has two main characteristics: A Solid, working knowledge of the content and a high intrapersonal intelligence. One without the other will result in a horrible teacher. If a teacher is an expert in their content but is incapable of relating and contenting with their students, they will not effectively teach. On the other hand, a teacher who is a “people person” and has a great relationship with their students, but doesn’t have a solid grasp of the content, will inevitably fail to teach effectively as well. A good teacher will have those two basic components. However, a ‘great’ teacher will have extreme patience, be encouraging, inspiring, a clear communicator, in tune with the emotions of their students and show genuine excitement for the content that they’re teaching. Students notice these things. Passion and excitement is contagious. The teacher mindset also goes a long way. For example, “empathize with kids, respect them and believe that each one has something special that can be built upon (Lieberman, Ann. Teachwithsimplicity.com).” Respecting, caring and believing in every student makes the quality of one’s teaching go from great to life-changing. Strengths and Weaknesses: My first-time teaching in this program I made a few mistakes. Firstly, I didn’t write new vocabulary on the board for visual reference. Secondly, I did not monitor the room efficiently for answering all the student’s questions and meeting all their needs. Lastly, I overexplained the grammar concept, resulting in a high percentage of teacher-talk time. I have corrected these errors for the most part. Sometimes I still forget to write new vocabulary on the board, but for the most part I do this. I also went to the other extreme at one point where I over-monitored. I think I have know found a healthy balance in the classroom. In my opinion, the thing that I need to work on the most is eliminating some of my teacher-talk time. With every teacher practice I discover new ways to allow the students to talk more than me. That is the hardest thing for me because the silence of students makes me feel uncomfortable, so I often try to fill the silence with my own voice. This is what I need to

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