From Jerry with Love

PERSONALITY TOPS LIST OF GOOD TEACHER QUALITIES
Personality is the ultimate key feature in top teachers
Jerry Sibanyoni, South Africa

In a study seeking to find top qualities of a good teacher, personality, leading miles ahead of other qualities, came up tops. The study of twenty nine top teachers from around the world aimed at unraveling the old age mystery about good teachers. Personal interviews on these teachers who come from literally all over the world were conducted in the cities of Baltimore and Washington DC, America.

In a surprising revelation, traditional values we have always associated with the teaching profession, such as appropriate dress code and ability to listen, trailed far behind.

“We are like actors”, offers Zakia Shufani, from Israel. Her words are echoed by Jake Jagos from Philippines, “A teacher should be an actor in class. He should be dynamic and students must find him fascinating and exciting. Don’t lecture; don’t appear ‘dead’ in class.” There is no doubt that a great personality plays a significant role in harnessing good class relations and thus effective teaching takes place.

“A good teacher should have the ability to improvise and should be interesting; a negative teacher yields negative results”, argues Andrea Sulyok from Hungary. Khaled Alhasanat from Palestine further reiterates the importance of good personality as a teacher, “Whether they like it or not, teachers are role models. Students will always imitate you. So, you have no choice, but to maintain a good reputation.”

Furthermore, Laura Bulloch from Scotland heightens the emphasis on personality. She observes that, “A teacher’s relationship with people in general is pivotal. A good teacher should have a positive attitude towards students and co-workers.” Adds Adnan Alawi of Bahrain, “A teacher’s personality can make or break a lesson or a child for that matter. Children should be able to respect you, but not necessarily fear you – there is a definite difference. Respect goes a long way. Teacher personality affects a child’s performance, both academically and in sport.”

Wahida Jafar from Bangladesh notes that teachers should accommodate students. They should stoop to the student’s level in order to bridge the gap that naturally exists between teacher and students. So the teacher’s personality should be of a flexible nature.” From India, Nusrath Sheriff renders, “A good teacher should be presentable, and should be conscious of her body language as this can speak volumes. When you deliver knowledge, do it with enthusiasm in order to be convincing to the learners; do not slump and then come across as a pessimist.”

“An understanding teacher should be able to put himself in the correct learner perspective; a teacher who does not overreact or who is not too sensitive, is a good teacher,” affirms Judith Bulteel of Belgium. These sentiments are also echoed by Lenka Hessova of Czech Republic, “A good teacher is a sociable teacher. A teacher’s personality should be such that she is able to interact with her students and also be sensitive to their needs. Andrea Ma San Myint from Myanmar adds that not only “Patience and understanding, but pure love and genuine care for students” are top qualities of a top quality teacher.

With such conclusive evidence, it makes complete sense to deduce, therefore, that personality is the top quality of a good teacher. How do you possibly separate good teachers from their good personalities? The following comments re-affirm the importance of good personality in being a good teacher, “There is no doubt that a caring and warm personality constitutes a good teacher,” offers Javier Barbero Andres of Spain. “A sense of empathy, coupled with a strong character make a top quality teacher”, Javier explained.

Then Makoto “Mark” Yasui from Japan summed it neatly in, “A teacher’s personality can influence a child into liking or resenting a subject and teachers should be conscious of that fact at all times”.

However, next to personality, yet still trailing behind, is motivation. Superintendent of schools in district 229, in Chicago, Dr Christopher Ward, summed it up when he observed that students become more co-operative and, in fact, more disciplined when they are fully aware that whatever you are doing in or outside class, you are doing it for them. He pointed out that students are most likely to listen to teachers who really care for them than those who don’t. “Caring teachers are more popular with students than those who don’t care. Teachers who show no care and no respect for students often encounter discipline problems,” says Dr Ward.

Offers Blandine Kolago from France, “A good teacher should have the ability to let every student know that he is the centre of the teacher’s attention. A good teacher should also be motivational, inspiring, and optimistic at all times as students need to be exposed to a positive environment with positive people.” Reiterating Blandine’s sentiments, Siri Heide from Norway asserts that a good quality teacher should have, “The ability to inspire confidence in both his strong and weaker students.”

“The student should be the centre of all learning and teaching. The student centered approach should be applied at all times”, says Daouda Traore of Mali. His words are further elaborated by Hamadony Muzafarov from Tajikistan, “Top teachers possess a desire to see their students succeed in the future. Such teachers spend time with students in order to inspire and empower them, by also exposing them to national and international programmes.” In confirming his belief that motivation plays a role in education, Jerry Sibanyoni from South Africa shares his experience, “ Literally every morning I put up a motivational “thought of the day” for my students to analyse and hopefully to get motivated. I have been practicing this culture for a record nine years of my teaching career, and I hope that somewhere, somehow, I managed to motivate a few souls.”

Following after good personality and motivational, patience is rated the third most important quality of a good teacher. In her list of the top five top qualities of a good teacher, Marie Lola Chaverra Cordoba from Colombia rated patience the most important. She asserts that, “If a teacher is impatient with her learners, it will prove to be very difficult for effective learning or teaching to take place.”

To further elaborate on patience as a good quality, Chimge Dugersuren, from Mangolia confirms that, “A good teacher should have the patience in order to be able to listen carefully to his students. A teacher should be able to give advice to his students whenever there is a need to do so.”

Knowledge of subject content and planning were a tie. Mary Moyapi from Zambia asserts that, “Planning is extremely important as a top teacher quality. After all, life is all about planning. A teacher who fails to plan is often the same teacher who is not organized in general, arriving late frequently, failing to mark students’ scripts timeously.” Appearing on Maria (Mary Antoniette) De Vico’s top qualities of a good teacher is knowledge of the subject. “A good teacher should be well trained and highly knowledgeable of her subject. Also, she should be multi-skilled in order to cater for a multi-skilled class. She should be a flexible teacher who adapts to her learners’ rhythm,” says Marie from Italy.

Confirming those sentiments, is Annmarie Ford from Scotland who holds that a top teacher should be an “intelligent” teacher. She elaborates that in being “intelligent” and having knowledge of the subject, the teacher invariably develops confidence in delivering knowledge. A self confident teacher is an effective teacher.”

Also in a tie, at position five, are “a sense of humour” and “ambitious”. “A top teacher should be funny, dynamic, confident and full of energy”, says Joselina Kuan from Nicaragua. She further believes that teachers should have a passion; they should “love what they do” in order to be effective, successful and world class teachers. Offers Gaute Kleiveland from Norway, “Humour is an enormous weapon both inside and outside class since it creates a conducive atmosphere for effective learning to take place. Learners are relaxed and they feel free to also express their opinions. This also allows for a more interactive lesson to prevail in class.”

Yoko Kito from Japan notes that, “In order to deliver an organized, top quality lesson, a teacher should be highly ambitious and should have an unwavering belief that his students can achieve. A good teacher should be flexible and be highly sensitive to various learner needs, thus apply multiple approaches to teaching”. Agrees Carlos Torres Suarez of Venezuela, “An ambitious teacher is a hardworking and committed teacher. This same teacher must also be smart, witty yet open minded and friendly.” From Greece, Lilika Mylona highlights that apart from having a sense of humour, “A teacher should be consistent in her application of discipline and rules. Rules must apply to every child.”

During the interviews there are comments that I found highly enlightening indeed. Jutta Hofer, from Austria reminded all teachers that, “We must all have the awareness of the big responsibility we have on children.” I think this comment transcends all education politics, teacher vanities and egotistic conduct. The comment reminds us all that we are not in a job, but a responsibility. We are not working with paper, computers, money, manufacturing, business etc, but we are working with human minds that need to be nurtured. But these children need to be respected as well as they are the most important forms of existence on earth. This is the type of responsibility where you not only touch the future, but have the tremendous power to shape it too.