Teaching as a Profession

Essay by Charlotte Good

The mediocre teacher tells.

The good teacher explains.

The superior teacher demonstrates.

The great teacher inspires.

W. Ward

Children, our next generation, is our future and to shape it’s image means to educate the young people properly, in accordance with common moral norms of society. And the people who do this are teachers. To my mind it is a great responsibility to bring up children.

A good teacher develops a burning desire for knowledge in his pupils. He also helps the children become independent, fulfill their potential and organize their own learning. He is interested in his students, tries to help where possible and works hard to remain up-to-date in his subject. The last thing is the most difficult, especially when you teach the same material for years (such as Math, for example). Teaching English is different, because the language is developing all the time and it always remains up-to-date.

I must admit that it is extremely difficult to become a good teacher. You should know the subject you teach perfectly; you must also be well-educated and well-informed. A good teacher knows the answers to any question.

As any other profession, teaching has it’s advantages: short working hours, long vacation, personal freedom, room for personal initiatives. Being a teacher you are always challenged by new tasks and you definitely like dealing with kids and the whole “school atmosphere.”

Nevertheless, this profession has some disadvantages, such as low pay and lots of home assignments to check. A teacher usually has to deal with discipline problems having many students in class.

But it is good to be a teacher, to share your knowledge and give your experience to small children, who will be independent adults in future.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD TEACHER? It is undeniable that being a teacher is a challenging career. But what makes a good teacher? First of all, a good teacher has to be an expert in the subject he/she teaches. A wide range of knowledge is absolutely needed to make a good teacher. Good teachers have to be very responsible because they are the ones who play a very important role in nurturing our next generations who are going to determine the future.

A good teacher should be caring towards the students. Most students are immature compared with adults. They undergo emotional revolution and encounter a lot of problems. A good teacher should understand those problems and approach them in a sensible method. Understanding can only be achieved by care and communication over a long time. Thus, it takes time and efforts to become a caring teacher.

A good teacher also treats his/her students with respect.

A good teacher is always a great listener. He or she not only talks, but also keenly listens to all that his or her students have to say. If a certain topic or point is found to be debatable, a good teacher does not hesitate to throw open the topic to the whole class and invite individual opinions on the matter. Love for teaching is very important characteristic of a teacher. All great teachers are people who teach simply because they love doing so. It isn't about the money, or about earning the respect of their students, or anything else. It is all about the love for teaching. It has always been that way, and it always will.

Sense of humour is also very important. A good teacher is one who freely jokes around in the class, but is dead serious when the need arises.

So, in my opinion, good teachers must be experts in the subject they teach, they must be responsible, understanding and caring, they must love their job, be great listeners and have nice sense of humour.