When you choose to become a teacher, you’ll do so for a variety of different reasons. It might be that you love learning, and you want to instill that feeling into others. It might be that you are particularly passionate about a specific subject, and you feel that teaching it is the best way to enjoy it more fully. Perhaps you are keen to ensure that the next generation of children has the best chance to make something of themselves in life.
Whatever your reason, the one thing that links it all together, even if you hadn’t considered it at all, is that you want to be an inspiration. The best teachers are inspiring, and they help children – and adults – in all kinds of different ways. Yet knowing (or even having a vague understanding) that you want to be an inspiration doesn’t mean you automatically will be. Likewise, simply being a teacher doesn’t mean others will look up to you. With that in mind, here are some of the ways that the best teachers inspire their students and ensure they (and their lessons) are never forgotten.
Keep Learning
A teacher who thinks they have nothing left to learn won’t be an inspiration. This is especially true when the lessons those teachers give are outdated and no longer relevant. However, if you continue to learn yourself, you will be in the best position to give your students all the right information and ensure that the lessons you are teaching them are relevant to today’s world.
Not only will you learn more about being a good teacher when you apply for an MA in education, but you will also show your students that there is never an end to learning and that if you can do it, so can they. Let them know what you are studying and why and use that information to help them understand why education is so important.
Take Risks In The Classroom
The easy way to teach is to stick with the same tried and tested methods, the same information, the same way of teaching year after year. Unfortunately, although this will still teach your students something, it won’t be particularly exciting or memorable. In fact, when you’ve been doing it for a long time, it might even become dull to you, which will be noticeable by those you are teaching.
To be inspirational and to make lessons much more interesting, the best teachers take risks in the classroom. They’ll try new things, knowing that not everything is going to work. They’ll ask their students for feedback. They’ll take it upon themselves to learn more and dig deeper to ensure their class gets the very best knowledge possible. By being as creative as you can and changing things up, not only will your class get more out of your teaching, but so will you. This will keep your lessons fresh and exciting, and pupils will look forward to learning with you.
Take Notice Of Your Students’ Interests
If you want your students to be happy, perhaps even excited, to come to school each day and to be ready to learn, one thing you can do is to take notice of their interests and hobbies and talk to them about them. You might even use them as the basis of a lesson or as a way to communicate with even the shyest of children.
The children who are most enthused about school are the ones who are going to learn best and remember most, so if you can ensure – as far as possible – that everyone in your class wants to be there, you will be helping them hugely when it comes to their education not just now but in the future too; a love of learning will never truly fade as you probably know firsthand.
When you pay attention to your students and find out who they are as people, they will gain trust and respect for you, and you can then go on to inspire them through your teaching, as they will be much more willing to learn from you.
Make Sure They Have Resources To Learn
Although you might want to help your students as much as possible all the time, this just isn’t something even the best teacher can do. They aren’t with you 24/7, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still help in some way. You can make sure the students have all the resources they need to do the work you want them to do and learn the lessons they need to know. If you can do this, then even when you’re not with them, they’ll still have the opportunity to keep learning.
One of the best ways to do this is to research online into what education websites are best for your students. Then, when you know your students well, you’ll be able to ascertain exactly which sites will suit which children, and you can give them the information they need to use those sites and help them get further ahead.
Be Authentic With Your Praise
There is a clear link between praising students and developing their self-esteem and self-confidence. The more praise they receive, the more they will believe in themselves and their abilities, and they will push themselves to do more. As an inspirational teacher, your praise is worth a lot, and it will certainly help them to get further ahead.
However, it’s crucial that you are authentic when you praise someone. If you praise everyone all the time, that praise, no matter how heartfelt it might be at times, will become worthless. It won’t be something that your students have to strive for and work for. Instead, it will become expected, and at that point, it is meaningless.
If you want to truly inspire, then you need to be sparing with your praise. Of course, always be kind and understanding, but if a student hasn’t worked as hard as they could – and as a teacher, you know their limits – then your praise should be reserved for when they do. In this way, they will know they have truly done well when you do praise them, and they will work harder to receive the good words from their favorite teacher.
