What's Make A Great Teacher?

 Teaching as a Profession: Fostering Lifelong Learning and Growth

Teachers are a blessing from God. Teachers are the ones who indirectly build the nation and the human being. They teach students the knowledge and morals that are imperative for one’s life. Without a teacher, there would be no engineers who build bridges and skyscrapers. Without a teacher, there will be no specialist doctor that can treat patients in need. And without a teacher, there would be no economist at the Central Bank who ensures the stability of our nation’s economy. Our lives are full of the services of teachers. Besides teachers at school, without us knowing, people around us are also teachers in our daily lives, such as our parents, friends, or even our community in our residential neighborhoods. In this digital age, knowledge is accessible anywhere and anytime. These issues certainly alleviate the reliance of students on their teachers. Nevertheless, the imperatives of the teacher will never be denied. Becoming a teacher requires a myriad of skills that must be conquered. Not only curricular knowledge, classroom management and administrative skills, or even computer and technological skills, but a marvelous teacher should have the attraction force or respect of students. To build this respect, there are three attitudes a marvelous teacher should have: adaptability, engagement, and lifelong learning.

Adaptability is a word that teachers should master because their profession changes from time to time. Teachers should quickly adjust themselves whenever there is a change in the education landscape so that they are not left behind in the current face-paced world. For instance, today’s alpha generation is more likely to learn through gamification methodology or using interactive audio and visual senses. Thus, to ameliorate the efficiency of learning in class, teachers should be flexible when providing learning experiences for their students. Therefore, not only will students feel learning is fun, but this will empower the self-learning culture in this new alpha generation. As a result, the exploration of knowledge can be done limitlessly, as the students can deep-dive into certain topics at their own pace.

Apart from that, an excellent teacher must have excellent engagement with others. As education is in the social science field, profession as a teacher involves a high volume of interaction not only with dozens or hundreds of students every day but also with other teachers, administrators, and students’ family members. Collaborative skills are imperative because teachers play multiple roles, from parent-teacher conferences to department meetings other than teaching in class. A teacher has to demonstrate these characteristics for the pupils, sharing with them their contagious excitement for learning and all the fascinating things they have discovered as hobbies and activities. This process will eventually lead the students to have the same experience by emulating the same routine as their inspiration teacher. Because of this, they can maximize the ultimate and unlimited knowledge online from the comfort of their homes without being asked to do so.

 Last but not least, superb teachers are not just interested in teaching, they also have a passion for lifelong learning. As education evolves rapidly with the unlimited resources of information, continuous learning and professional development remind teachers of the real-world challenges that their students may be facing. This will enhance the understanding between teachers and students, and the exchange of information can be done effectively in the classroom. One example is when the Generation X teacher learns how to use Quizizz as one of the learning gamifications and applies it to classroom learning. Consequently, teachers will always be updated with the new pedagogies in teaching or innovations in learning, which makes learning an enjoyable process for students.

In conclusion, the role of teacher is crucial for the development of our beloved nation, Malaysia. At the same time, the qualities of an ordinary teacher and an extraordinary teacher will consequently have different impacts on society. Great teachers come in handy when they have these attitudes which are adaptability, engagement, and lifelong learning. This is due to the fact that these attitudes will make students have a pleasant experience in the classroom, and the learning and teaching process will reach the objectives simultaneously.

 

About me

Hi! Thank you so much for spending your time reading this essay. I hope you got something from this essay, maybe an idea for your writing or become inspiration to be a great and marvelous teacher in the future. I am a teacher-in-training, so I am writing this essay with full of my heart. Wishing me to become an extraordinary and passionate teacher in the future!