Tips for being a more influential teacher
Education is the key to reduce poverty. Mosammat Reba Khatoon is a 40 year old school teacher who lives in a small riverside village in Bangladesh and runs a floating school that teaches 90 students aged between six and nine. She describes teaching as a challenging job since most of these children are poor and cannot afford to go school as well as face natural disasters frequently. Thus they meet their parents and encourage them to send their children school to lead a better improved life which has resulted in less early age marriages. Also the floating school is solar empowered with internet enabled computers making the education for these deprived children more convenient. She is a brilliant example of an ideal teacher who is committed to motivate the less fortunate children towards education. Being an influential teacher does not mean to teach the curriculum alone but in fact create means to provide better education opportunities to children. So what should a teacher do to be influential?
Tips to follow:
- Student Development: A teacher must focus on a child’s personal, intellectual and social development by understanding its learning behavior and provide with the opportunity to develop.
- Use of various Instructional Strategies: A teacher should understand how students differ in their approach towards learning and thus create multiple strategies to teach them. This will enhance their skills for critical thinking, problem solving and improved performance that will lead to good results.
- Management of Motivation: A teacher creates a motivational environment that encourages the individual towards self-motivation, active participation in learning and social interaction through nourishing their group behavior.
- Planning & Implementation: The teacher must plan the subject matter to achieve the curriculum goal as well as influence children to gain cognitive knowledge.
- Effective Communication Techniques: The teacher should use all the technological modes to effectively communicate knowledge to the students. Use of verbal, non-verbal and media communication would help in collaboration and smooth interaction among students.
- Assessment Strategies: Finally, the teacher must adopt various assessment strategies to evaluate a student’s physical, intellectual and social development. The goal of assessment is to ensure that students are on the path of continuous improvement and are eager to perform better with every assessment.
- Reflective Development: A teacher is conscious of its skills and knowledge and how these factors are influencing the stakeholders like students, parents, and colleagues in the learning community. Thus, it is essential for a teacher to focus on its reflective development by exploring opportunities to improve professionally.
- Updated Knowledge & Skills: Having a basic degree are not enough to meet the criteria for effective teaching skills. In fact, teacher qualification is a continuous process which should go on to enhance the teaching experience. Furthermore, teachers in Bangladesh should also enroll in various trainings and workshops to keep themselves up-to-date with the latest subject matter. They should undergo special training session to improve their teaching skills as well so they can utilize the latest teaching techniques into their professional life and grow exponentially.
- Elegant & Formal Dressing: The teachers need dressing up well because appearance matters a lot especially when it comes to inspiring students. The leading online marketplaces in Bangladesh such as Kaymu house a comprehensive range of formal dresses to help teachers put a positive impression on their students. They can browse online and get the most out of their formal shopping needs.