PREREQUISITES OF EFFECTIVE TEACHERS
The development of a country is closely related to education but which are those key points that define the success of this important area? Many experts say that to reach high levels of education we need to have enough resources as good classrooms, books, computers, student’s supplies, etc. but they also state that not only those resources are needed but also competent teachers. It is clear teachers have a powerful, long lasting influence on their students, in other words they directly affect how students learn, what they learn, how much they learn and the ways they interact with one another. Based on this and through extensive research some experts have found five prerequisites that effective teachers share:
1. Verbal ability
As communication is essential in the learning process, Teachers with greater verbal ability make students learn more. Students need to be taught in understandable ways for succeeding in their school achievements. I my experience as a learner, I remember a special teacher who used to teach me literature at high school. Even though that subject is pain on the neck for most students, that teacher used to make it interesting. I remember she used to speak in a natural way, always smiling and with a positive attitude that made everybody feel comfortable with the subject but the next year everything changed the new literature teacher used to stammer while speaking and everybody got bored.
When we are in front of a class, we transmit our emotions and show our attitude toward students, which are clearly perceived by them. So teacher must work on their communicative skills in order to facilitate student´s learning progress.
2. Educational coursework
Teaching preparation is vital in the development of an effective teacher because each student is different and has personal needs. To understand this fact, teachers must know the different theories of education, which are based on extensive research. Professional preparation enables teachers to understand how kids grow, learn and develop their social needs, so that helps teachers to develop good classroom management, better relationships as well as curriculum development and lesson planning. For those reasons some experts say that teachers with better professional preparation are able to provide students with more diverse opportunities to learn.
3. Teacher certification
In every country in the world, teachers face pedagogical and content knowledge test to show their teaching abilities. Unfortunately many out-of-field teachers are infiltrated in de different education systems in the world affecting in tremendous ways student´s achievement. In the other hand those teachers who are well certificated have a greater impact on student’s achievement.
4. Content knowledge
There is proved that those teachers who have good content knowledge are able to go beyond the basic textbook content and involve students in meaningful discussions and student directed activities. In my experience as a learner I remember a teacher who used to teach me chemistry. He had lack of knowledge in that area. My classmates and I were always confused because that teacher used to contradict some chemistry principles in his classes. One of my classmates who used to be a top notch was accustomed to telling him his mistakes in the middle of the class and that teacher used to feel ashamed. Analyzing this example we can clearly see how important it is to be competent regards to knowledge but let´s say that subject matter knowledge is not sufficient; teachers need to have good pedagogical skills in order to help students to grasp, use and remember the information they have learned.
5. Teaching experience
Experience is crucial in the teacher development. A student who is in training to become a teacher should know everything about teaching approaches and getting good grades but should have problems at time of being in a real class. In my experience as a teacher in kindergarten last year, I could realize that all those things that I thought were good for helping my students to learn just didn´t work and that a soon as I was sharing time with students I identified their needs and the way in which they learned better. New teachers develop their teaching abilities through experience. Some research has proved that after three years of experience teachers can develop meaningful lessons, better classroom management skills, and better relationships with students where they are able to identify students learning style and needs.
To conclude I can say that all every student who is in training to become a teacher has the challenge of being a responsible student and go beyond the class doing extra research and trying to get all the knowledge and abilities that are needed for running a real class. In that way we can become good teachers and help our future students to learn better.
