TEACHER  DEVELOPMENT

What Makes You an Admired Teacher?

Last Updated 6 October 2023/ By Zineb DJOUB

Have you ever asked yourself  “What makes you an admired teacher“?

Our intent is to support students to learn and progress. We work hard to meet our objectives and enhance their learning and we feel really rewarded when our seeds grow.

But, to enhance that learning, do we need to be liked by students? Does this make any difference to their learning achievement?

Teaching is laden with emotions. We interact with students more than anyone else. And the kind of relationship we have with them affects their learning interest and commitment.

When our students like us, they get more motivated and engaged. They show respect, collaborate, and support us to create learning opportunities for their success.

Experiencing that feeling of « being liked » is so great. It gives you more comfort and confidence. It energizes you to create, innovate, and keep on learning to streamline.

Even during those moments when you feel stressed out, tired, and stuck, your students can be the source of relief because you can see clearly in their eyes how much they like you.

Also, when students like their teacher they like learning. Even if they hate the subject matter or find it not relevant or interesting, having such a feeling can make them change completely their minds and attitudes.

So, what makes you an admired teacher? Here is what makes you not only liked but admired among your students.

1. Reach out to students

Knowing a lot about the subject matter we teach is a must to make us recognized among our students and thus more respected, trusted, and valued.

Such knowledge is important for us to be professional, but what is more important is having the necessary skills to impart it, and reach out to all students so that they reconstruct it and create new ideas.

Complicating things would never make us seem genius teachers and a source of learning for our students. Rather, it will make them lost, annoyed, disengaged, and hate us.

So, no matter how much knowledge you have about your subject, it is your ability to simplify things, adapt materials, and help students improve that determines your effectiveness as a teacher.

This is what makes you an admired teacher. Because you’re not just knowledgeable, but also able to make learning more accessible to each one.

By doing so, your care and concern for students’ learning become more visible to them. So, you’re worth respecting, valuing, and learning from.

2. Balance out

We are supposed to be firm and strict to manage effectively the classroom and push students to work hard and improve. Meanwhile, we have to be lighthearted to motivate them to learn, get more engaged, and keep going with their progress.

So, there are moments we are humorous, we laugh and enjoy together the fun, while in others we are rigorous and focus on the takeaway.

Our professional identity includes both attitudes. So, we should not lean on one of them.

If we are too lighthearted with our students we may cross those boundaries and face conflicts of interest. If we are too rigorous we may make students uneasy, feel tensed being under such control, and more likely to refuse to get involved.

You need to create the necessary balance between being firm and lighthearted to make your relationship with your students more healthy and conducive to learning.

To balance out, it is necessary to understand your objective of interacting with your students in order to determine the kind of attitudes to undertake.

When you want to maintain order or discipline, explain important instructions, or communicate feedback regarding students’ progress, be rigorous in your tone, words, and motions. Because you are talking to their minds, you need to be serious, focused, and clear.

When you want to get their attention, interest, and engagement in learning, and make them more excited and enthusiastic about their learning, be lighthearted. Because you’re addressing their hearts before their minds, you need to target the affective side.

Bringing up that balance will help your students know about you ‘the teacher’. They will know when they need to be serious and when they can have fun with you.

By doing so, you are not only supporting them to behave properly but also making them admire you because you’re providing them with a learning atmosphere where they are learning and also enjoying the process.

3. Blow students’ minds

We all know that we have to be honest, and patient and value our job and show this clearly in our words and attitudes. We also have to instil a culture of life-long learning in our students to inspire them to extend their learning beyond the classroom walls.

Still, what makes you an admired teacher is when you blow students’ minds with new and meaningful learning experiences that go beyond the expected (the syllabus) to meet their diverse needs and prepare them for a world beyond the classroom.

If you create such a learning experience, your students are likely to feel that learning with you is different. You are SPECIAL! Because your teaching is rich and personalized. So, the ordinary is negated, the challenge is expected and their minds are more engaged.

It is true that catering to students’ needs and honing the necessary skills for them to strive for world change is a tough task for teachers.

But, it will pay off because our mission is not just instructing, but also making a difference to students’ learning and lives. So, be innovative and invest in your students. They will admire you and commit themselves to learning and developing.

Admired teachers are sources of motivation, inspiration, and learning for their students. They not only contribute to their academic achievement but also to their personal and social development. Students remember them and how they made their learning interesting and fruitful.

Yes, it makes a great difference when students like you. So, why not get admired teachers?