The Marks of A Great Teacher

It's been said, "Those who can't do, teach." Whoever originally said that didn't know the first thing about teaching, one of the world's toughest professions. So much goes into teaching, an inexact science that even the best who do it fall short in from time to time.

So what can better help make a great teacher? Here are five key attributes any aspiring teacher would do well to cultivate:

Intelligence: There's a reason that a number of teachers are former lawyers, political aides, and the like. While teaching doesn't necessarily demand a keen mind, it certainly favors those who have one. After all, teaching is a profession that literally keeps its workers on its feet, continually adjusting to a myriad of personalities and skill levels among students. The best teachers have the ability to constantly adapt. They can engage on different levels, both emotionally and intellectually depending on who they're reaching out to providing, say, math help. They're smart enough to coax maximum effort and performance out of as many students as possible.

Communication: The most intelligent person in the world is of little use as a tutor or teacher if they can't clearly convey their knowledge. Little is worse in the classroom than a teacher rocketing through a lecture, algorithms and theorems scrawled across a dry erase board, confused students struggling to keep up all the while. Few learn much of anything in this kind of environment, smart kids getting by based on whatever knowledge they picked up in years past with more competent instructors, slower students doomed to failure. Better is the teacher who can smoothly, calmly impart what they know. A teacher of average intelligence and outstanding communicative abilities is far more effective than a genius who can't articulate.

Calm: Bad teachers yell. They get angry at their students. Every day is a pitched battle, and sometimes the teachers win, sometimes the students prevail, and more often than not it seems, no one really benefits. The best teachers go a different route. They rarely raise their voices. They maintain an admirable, almost unreal state of equilibrium. They possess a Zen-like calm. What's amazing is that teachers like this seem to command a greater level of respect, affection, and ultimately, productivity, which leads to our final two attributes.

Inspiration: There's an early episode of the NBC series, The Office, where junior salesma
Ryan Howard badmouths the company and worries he will be fired. His boss Michael Scott talks him down, telling him, "The best bosses don't fire. They hire. They inspire." It's a little cheesy, but it's apt, not just for business but education as well. Great teachers don't terrorize or condemn. They fill their students with hope and optimism, helping them believe in what's possible.

Respect: As mentioned earlier, the best teachers don't demand respect from their students, they command it. But respect is a two-way street, and great teachers offer their students respect. They don't condescend or belittle. They treat the students they teach, whether they're young or old, children or adults, as colleagues.