Drawing from your previous professional experience, discuss specific examples where you have demonstrated these qualities. How important will these personal qualities be in thinking of the career pathways that might open for you once you have completed a graduate degree in education? Do you anticipate that higher standards will be expected of you? Explain.
Every component listed is a must and to have as an educator of any type. Many can be added to the list, but these would be the foundation. Without all these qualities, the student would miss out on the best education available to them. Of the eleven qualities, integrity, evidence of high academic achievement, and perseverance are just a few that will be discussed during this post.
Before going into depths about all of them, it is essential to realize that if students do not feel that you care about them, it does not matter how much information you hold. Students won’t trust the teacher and, therefore, will not want to listen to them. Students’ letters sent out to teachers of the year validate that how a teacher treats a student will have a lasting impact on them and may even determine their future success (Kaplan, and Owings, 2014). Many teach for a paycheck, and they most likely will be the ones that, if they are remembered, students won’t have fond memories of them.
To teach for a paycheck seems to be a lack of integrity. It is unethical to work in an occupation where you are first responsible for is not what you want. As teachers, we often realize that we are the ones that set the tone in the classroom, and we forget that the students we are working with may have extreme issues. When we don’t get the response we want from them, we assert our authority. After all, we are the teacher, and it is our classroom. We have to be mature enough to know when to let some things go.
We represent safety and security for many of them. I remember watching a 5th-grade class as they were waiting for school to start. Their teacher’s husband died, and the students did not know. I assumed she would not be in, and the students were peeking through her blinds. I asked them what they were looking for they said her name. She came to work despite it all. Her perseverance caused her to look beyond her pain, and the kids did something for her as well. They love her, and she loves them, and their success motivates her to continue to come. That same teacher intervened this week for a student on a lower grade level and gave up her lunch to give him time to redirect himself in her room.
I believe most teachers have all of these traits, which is why they spend their funds. Moreover, they have continued to work during a pandemic instead of bowing out. I taught as a paraprofessional for four years before getting an actual teaching position, and there was no money in it. When I saw my first teacher paycheck, it was slightly more. It was not until recently that the teachers in Florida got a raise. You have to love what you do and genuinely have a heart. If you do, all the other things will come naturally.
