Issue #22 – “How To” Series

In This Issue:

How To Determine If You Have Positive Teaching Qualities

&

How To Avoid Negative Teaching Characteristics

Part I –  Positive Teaching Characteristics

 

GENUINENESS

This quality is exhibited by teachers who:

• Create a student-centered classroom environment
• Go beyond what is expected of them to promote student’ well being
• Are easily approachable
• Are honest and up-front with students
• Follow through on what they say
• Are consistent in their methods
• Are not fake or hypocritical

 

FAIRNESS

Teachers with this quality:

• Can admit to making a mistake
• Give assignments that take into account student’ needs and levels of ability
• Give assignments that are reasonable in length with the main goal being feelings of success and              accomplishment
• Give tests that stick to what has been taught
• Take a commonsense approach to grading homework and essays
• Give helpful comments for improvement
• Give students advance notice of quizzes and tests
• Do not seek to “get” children by giving unfairly difficult assignments and tests

ORGANIZATION

Teachers who have this characteristic will:

• Maintain order and routine in their classroom
• Provide students with structure and logical rules that apply equally to all
• Teach student to organize their materials, desks and lockers
• Have well-planned lessons with logical presentations and relevant follow-up assignments
• Hand back tests, essays, and classwork in a reasonable amount of time

 

LOGIC AND COMMON SENSE

This quality is expressed by teachers who:

• Recognize that students, like adults, have good and bad days
• Understand that forces outside the classroom may be affecting a student’s performance
• Know the classroom is not the center of the universe
• Know the difference between symptoms and problems and look for the root of the symptoms rather than label them in negative terms
• Knows and believes that no child wants to fail in school and that failure is a symptom that needs to be investigated

 

ABILITY TO SET CLEAR BOUNDARIES

Teachers with this ability will:

• Take a stand to promote fairness and enforce classroom rules, even if it makes them unpopular
• Set clear and fair boundaries for students who may be out of control
• Run the classroom with a sense of conviction rather than by fear and intimidation

 

SENSE OF HUMOR OR LIGHTHEARTEDNESS

This quality is exhibited by teachers who:

• Place priority on important issues and understand that to err is human
• Allow students to explore their “child” side without admonishing them to grow up
• Are able to laugh at themselves when they make a mistake
• Understand the difference between telling jokes and making fun of or belittling students
• Know that no child should be the focus of a joke

 

ABILITY TO GIVE COMPLIMENTS

Teachers who possess this quality will:

• Spontaneously compliment students for their achievements and for trying their best
• Find positive things to tell students before making suggestions on how to improve something
• Make constructive comments on tests and essays without devaluing students’ efforts
• Provide students with small notes and cars recognizing a good job, a commonsense decision, assistance to another student, and so forth

 

ABILITY TO ADMIT MISTAKE

Teachers who possess this quality will:

• Admit their mistakes to let students see that mistakes present a learning opportunity
• Not be afraid to show students how to correct a decision that is obviously wrong
• Are solution oriented rather than blame oriented

 

WILLINGNESS TO LISTEN

Teachers who can listen:

• Put aside time to sit down with students who need to say something
• Understand that reaching out to an adult is a difficult step for many students, especially for those who have       no one to listen to them at home
• Teach students that being listened to does not always mean that someone will agree or be able to do what they ask

 

APPROACHABILITY

Teachers with this quality:

• Have the ability to make students feel at ease when they come to ask a question
• Have a high approachability factor and students never hesitate to approach them for any reason
• Exhibit a sense of warmth and comfort
• Cultivate an atmosphere in which children do not fear negative reactions
• Command respect, do not demand respect

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Part II –  Negative Teaching Characteristics

Now let us take a look at some personality characteristics and teaching styles that increase the chance of children developing negative self esteem or low self worth.

 

EGO TEACHING

Teachers with this quality:

• Have unrealistically high standards that create intense stress in their students
• Give excessively long homework assignments designed to impress parents how good a job he/she is doing
• Give difficult tests that require children to learn minutiae
• Have grading systems that create numerous failures
• Demand respect by frightening and intimidating students

 

EXCESSIVE CRITICISM

This characteristic is exhibited by teachers who:

• Criticize children in public
• Criticize more often than compliment
• Believe that compliments and rewards reduce his/her authority
• Use sarcasm as a means of motivation
• Are quick to blame a child’s lack of progress or poor grades on the student rather than analyzing the           situation for possible teaching problems

 

UNREASONABILITY

This characteristic is exhibited when teachers:

• Refuse to listen to a child’s explanation
• Make demands without giving reasons
• Provide work and experiences that are too difficult for children to finish without parental help

 

NARCISSISM

This aspect of a personality is reflected when teachers:

• Use children to keep the spotlight on themselves
• Give a great deal of work but rarely hand it back or hand it back with few or no comments
• Focus attention on themselves rather than the needs of the students
• Take it out on students if they have a bad day
• Are always the victim, always complain the most, and always brag that they have the most difficult class

 

RIGIDITY

This quality is expressed by teachers who:

• Take everything seriously
• Are unwilling to change their minds
• Are unwilling to admit mistakes
• Will stick with something even if it makes little sense or has little educational value

 

PUNISHMENT ORIENTATION

Teachers with this mentality:

• Punish students for relatively small infractions
• Make a public spectacle of students
• Hold students’ behavior or performance up to their peers for ridicule
• Always see students’ explanations as excuses or attempts to control the situation
• Enforce rules with harsh, unrealistic consequences

 

DISORGANIZATION

Teachers with this quality tend to:

• Change the rules frequently, thus creating confusion in students
• Give tests or quizzes without letting students know in advance
• Frequently lose students’ work
• Appear to be “winging it” with no real plan or structure

 

UNPREDICTABILITY

Teachers with this quality will:

• Change rules without informing students, sometimes until they break them
• Have different rules for different students
• Be nice to a student one day and not another, for no apparent reason

 

LACK OF CONTROL

Teachers who exhibit this quality:

• Have no set classroom rules for discipline or opportunities for reward
• Always seem to be yelling and screaming
• Make extreme threats that rarely are enforced
• Let the students “run the show”

 

CREATE ANXIETY IN STUDENTS

Teachers who do this:

• Say things to scare children (for instance, “You’ll be lucky if you get a 65 on tomorrow’s test”)
• Never offer reassurance before or after tests
• Constantly inform students of how much trouble they will be in if they don’t do well on this test or         assignment
• Create self-doubt in students

 

“GOTCHA” MENTALITY

Teachers who have this characteristic:

• Hope to catch students making mistakes
• Always correct students for breaking rules, no matter how minor
• Will seize any opportunity to exhibit power over students
• Will publicly broadcast what they uncover about students’ infractions

 

OVERREACTIVITY

Teachers who exhibit this quality will:

• Turn minor events into major crises
• Enforce punishments inappropriate to the situation
• Scream and yell at students for minor infractions

 

Although successful experiences are the most critical factor in building confidence, a positive teacher with a constructive teaching style can go a long way toward breaking down initial resistance barriers. Positive or negative, a teacher’s personality and teaching style, even for one year, can directly affect a student for the rest of his/her life.

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NASET’s “How To” Avoid Negative Teaching Characteristics, CLICK HERE

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