If you think about it, school is the place where students spend more time than with their own families. It is the place where young people learn the most things before they enter the workforce than anywhere else.
Teachers can have a lot of influence and this can become even more evident when there are problems at home.
At the beginning of my life, before I took many different career directions, I was a French and English teacher. In this article, I will share my views on how teachers can positively impact students’ lives.
How Teachers Make a Difference
Most people who are successful in life today were once helped by someone else. In most cases, these people were supported by their teachers. For this reason, most of them are grateful for what their former teachers did for them. They do not forget how their teachers helped them and encouraged them when things were bad for them or when it seemed like there was no hope.
We have all had teachers who have impacted our lives in one way or another. We have all had teachers who inspired us to cultivate our talents, pursue our dreams, and prepare for the future. Some teachers can inspire students to learn more and do their best. Others can discourage students from succeeding. That’s why it’s important for every teacher to understand that they have the power to positively or negatively impact their students’ lives.
The same is true for many other successful people today. In almost all cases, you will find that the people who are successful today were once helped by someone in their past – someone who cared about them and wanted them to succeed in life.
Therefore, it is important that we teach our students not only academic knowledge but also the values that will help them improve their lives.
How Can Teachers Have a Positive Impact on Students?
Teachers can motivate students to achieve great things – both inside and outside the classroom. Teachers who truly love their jobs are able to transfer that passion for learning to their students.
When a good teacher is excited about learning, that enthusiasm can spread like wildfire and ignite a passion for learning in every student. This passion for knowledge can lead students to great success throughout their lives – both personally and professionally.
Through Education
While teachers and educators have many different roles in education, their primary role is teaching. This means they must be able to effectively teach the lesson plan and pass on knowledge in a way that is easy for students to understand – so it will lead them to academic success.
In addition, they must be able to motivate students by creating a positive learning environment, encouraging enthusiasm for learning, and providing positive reinforcement to students who perform well.
To accomplish these tasks, teachers must possess a number of qualities beyond a college degree or teaching credential. In fact, it is possible that the most important quality of a teacher is something that cannot be learned in school.
Here are five qualities teachers need to have a positive impact on their students:
- Empathy
- Sense of humor
- Clear communication skills
- Creativity
- A positive attitude
Recognition of Students’ Potential
The teaching profession is a tough job, but not everyone knows that.
If you are a prospective teacher for the first time, you may think that being a good teacher is about teaching a specific skill, creating a lesson plan, using some good teaching strategies, and learning things that you learn during your teacher education.
However, what many people do not know is that teaching is one of the most difficult professions in the world. Teachers not only have to teach and convey a subject matter and certain material but a good educator also has to be able to understand and help his students, and sometimes encourage positive behavior.
A good teacher is able to observe and be receptive. For example, some young people are shy or afraid to ask questions in class, or simply have difficulty expressing themselves verbally in front of others; a good teacher should watch for such signs in their students so they can help them if necessary. A good educator must also be able to motivate students to learn by making lessons interesting and fun for them.
In addition, effective teachers must be creative, always coming up with new ways to make learning interesting and fun for young people, especially if they’re a middle school or high school teacher where their students may begin to take an interest in things other than their academic success.
From my experience, I believe that all students have great potential, and it is the teacher’s approach that helps them develop that potential or keeps them from exploring it further.
Through Feedback
Feedback is important for many reasons. One is that students learn to accept constructive criticism so they can learn to move forward better in life and put their egos aside. Another reason is that feedback can provide the right advice that could be their golden ticket to a better future. It’s as important as a test score, because a test score does not always tell the whole story, nor does it give advice on which soft skill to improve.
By Creating a Speech Bubble
The role of an effective teacher goes far beyond just teaching a subject matter and standardized tests. Great teachers create an environment where students want to learn and are actively engaged. This is where interpersonal skills come into play.
A teaching profession also requires creating a safe space for learning, students are more likely to share their ideas and try new things without fear of failure.
For example, when I was teaching English Language Learners in Thailand, my high school students had to give a presentation in English. Some of them were shy, isolated, and often afraid to speak up. By putting them in a group of more confident students and giving those who had the confidence the responsibility of making sure each individual in the group succeeded, the weaker students made progress and integrated better. It gave them a sense of achievement and encouraged them to take a positive behavior in class.
Here are 4 tips to help develop those interpersonal skills and make a positive difference in the classroom:
- Use positive language
- Build rapport with students
- Create a safe place to learn
- Make yourself available
Inspire Them and Be Role Models
Teachers challenge students to think outside the box and take on new challenges with confidence. They are also there to support students when they take risks and fail – an important lesson students need to learn to succeed in life.
They can motivate students to achieve great things – both inside and outside the classroom.
Those who truly love their jobs can share that passion for learning with their students. When a teacher is passionate about learning, that enthusiasm can spread like wildfire and ignite a passion for learning in every student. This passion for knowledge can lead students to great success throughout their lives – both personally and professionally.
Aspiring teachers are like candles – consuming themselves to light the way for others. They lead by example through their own actions and deeds, inspiring students to follow them.
Students can see you as a role model and want to be like you. When they admire you and recognize your good qualities, they will want to behave in a way that they know will please them and make them more like you.
By Helping Them Choose a Career
Students often decide on a career, or at least their first work experience, while they are still in school. A teacher can introduce their students to different careers and discuss the pros and cons of each. Some teachers even organize a field trip for the class so they can get an idea of a particular profession. This is a great opportunity for your students to learn about different careers and what it takes to be successful in that career.
Teachers can help students identify their strengths and weaknesses by identifying them early on. Then they can tailor their curriculum to address those strengths and weaknesses.
This will help students develop self-confidence and self-monitor their behavior. This will help them feel more confident in their future careers.
Give Confidence
Students who feel encouraged by their teachers are more likely to try new things and take risks if they feel they can succeed.
Encouragement from teachers can come in many different forms, such as verbal praise, positive reinforcement, and high expectations for all students. If you feel your teacher believes in you, you will want to try harder and achieve more than if you do not feel encouraged by him or her.
When students feel that their talents are recognized and valued by their teachers, they are more likely to cultivate them and use them for personal growth.
By Teaching Values
When a teacher teaches students the value of hard work and commitment, he or she encourages them to prepare for a promising future by giving them the tools they need to succeed in school and in life. Students who learn that without hard work there is nothing worthwhile will be able to forgo instant gratification for greater rewards later.
Influence on Parents
It’s not always possible, and it’s often a very touchy subject as it depends on the situation, but I have occasionally seen parents be receptive to the advice of teachers, and sometimes this can even improve the relationship between parent and child.
For example, a teacher may identify autism or a special talent that explains why parents can not understand their child’s behavior at home because they spend less time with their child than they would like. If you are a teacher who identifies a disability, it is best to discuss this with your principal first, as each school has a different policy and often has experience with how to deal with parents on such issues.
There is also the issue of what is considered acceptable parenting in different families or cultures.
We should not judge others by our own standards of parenting, but we cannot deny that some parenting styles lead to negative outcomes for children. Some parents need professional help when their mental illness is harming their children or when there is domestic violence in the family, but unfortunately, many of these families do not know what services are available to them or they fear the consequences.
By Identifying Problems in the Community
Schools are the backbone of our society; they are where the youth learn, grow and develop into adults. Schools are not only for education, but also for socializing, learning social skills, and finding a sense of belonging. Teachers are the ones who spend the most time with students during these years, so it is their job to make sure students feel safe both in school and in their community.
Teachers have a duty to make sure their students are safe while they are in our classrooms and also when they leave school. They can do this by speaking up when something about a student’s situation strikes them as odd, or by simply asking how their day was. Teachers should always be on the lookout for signs of abuse or neglect, as children may not know how to report it themselves.
The community benefits from teachers who actively work to protect their children because they can identify abuse or neglect early before it escalates into something more dangerous like homicide or suicide.
When young children feel that no one cares about them, tragedies occur. Therefore, it is important that preschool teachers (or kindergarten teachers), elementary school teachers, or high school teachers do everything in their power to prevent such problems, for example, by talking to the principal, who may suggest a special education teacher.
These problems are usually most obvious in elementary school, middle school, and high school. Once students reach higher education, it’s often too late to intervene, especially if the student needs special education. However for master’s degree students, there can be support at the college for personal problems, but it’s up to young people to decide whether to take the plunge and seek help.
What Makes Good Teachers?
Good teachers promote learning in their classrooms by using a variety of techniques and strategies to teach their students. They use a variety of methods to help students learn, and they know that each student learns in his or her own way. The best teachers adapt their methods to meet the needs of their students.
A great teacher does not only have a good teaching style, he’s good at listening. An effective teacher listens to what his students are saying to better understand them, and he also listens to what his students are not saying to be aware of any problems. These are just some of the things that make good teachers.
Whether you teach in a traditional classroom or at home, there are many ways to communicate your strengths and weaknesses. Share your experiences with students, and develop different learning methods.
- Understand the context of your teaching environment and students’ life.
- Demonstrate your ability to use various student teaching techniques individually and in combination with other techniques.
- Develop various measures of student learning, including teacher portfolios, student work samples, and teacher-student conferences.
- Share student experiences that relate to strengths and weaknesses, such as work experience and personal interests.
- Incorporate technology (if you’re allowed by the school) into your teaching style. Students tend to associate teacher quality with modernity.
Teachers Matter
Learning with an educator is not just about the teacher’s effectiveness and teaching strategies in a particular subject matter and the test score students end up with, but also about the teacher’s quality, which can boost student achievement and professional development later in life.
Aspiring teachers can make a big difference in their students’ life and they can influence positive behavior.
Related: What Are Positive Influences
The Teaching Profession Is a Job With Many Responsibilities
Many people think that a teacher only works a few hours a day, takes his paycheck, and has lots of vacation time. That’s true for some teachers. But the average teacher works more than 8 hours a day, and they don’t get a high salary. We say that young people are our future, and I’d say that teachers are also the future, because they can make a difference for our future if we support them.