There is a stark contrast between teaching, and being a great teacher and the responsibility is on all of our shoulders to ensure that we are the best teachers that we can be. When I first started my teaching career I was fortunate enough to work with the inspiration Kevin Rolle Alabama University Vice President and educational mastermind. Throughout my years working with Kevin, I learned an incredible amount form him in terms of how I could be the best teacher that I could be, and some tips and tricks on doing so. If you are a teacher who is looking to improve how you educate, here are some tips on helping you to improve.
Self Assessment
One of the most important aspects of being a great teacher and improving your teaching is to regularly assess how well you are doing. You cannot improve if you do not understand your weaknesses and throughout your career you should be regularly looking in the mirror and asking yourself how you can improve. This self assessment is vital in the continuous quest to be the best teacher that you can be.
Watching Others
You will never know it all and so you should always seek to learn from others throughout your teaching career, or even think about advancing your career by getting your doctorate of education at this school. You can also ask peers and colleagues if you can sit in with their class once in a while and watch the way in which they teach, the style that they have, and how it differs from yours. They say that imitation is the best form of flattery and there is absolutely nothing wrong with borrowing qualities from other teachers.
Style Additions
The key to being a great teacher is having a style which is flexible and can be used to help a range of different students and learners. In order to achieve this kind of style you should always be open to the possibility of adding different styles to the way in which you teach and communicate.
Great Student
Whichever subject you are teaching, you can guarantee that throughout your career, it will change drastically and in order to stay relevant and give your students the best education, you also need to be a student. If you fail to stay on top of your subject and the changing face of it, you will be teaching things that you don’t completely understand which could fail your students.
Motivational Quotes
A simple hack which I like to use that keeps me motivated to be the best teacher that I can be, is to surround myself with motivational quotes. I have quotes posted up in my office, in my classroom and even in my car. I feel that reading inspirational and motivational quotes, especially those that pertain to teaching, maintains my focus and drive to be the best teacher possible.
What ways do you try to improve yourself as a teacher? Feel free to share them with us in the comments section below this post.