Want To Be A Teacher? You Will Fail Unless You Have This One Characteristic!
What's the magic secret to having an effective, successful and long teaching career? Certainly there are many critical elements: subject matter knowledge, creative presentation of material, good speaking skills, patience and a sense of humor.
But there is one characteristic that must exist before any of the rest matter.
What is it? You have to love kids.
Seems simple, but it's brought an end to many teachers' careers.
Liking kids isn't enough.
You must truly enjoy spending time with them and listening to them talk.
You have to be able to see their antics and comments as funny rather than juvenile.
Kids of all ages can spot a teacher who is condescending or insincere.
Why isn't it enough to just like kids? Well, there will be certain times when their charm fades and what you once saw as cute behavior is now just annoying.
If you loved them initially you will still be able to like them well enough to get through the tough times.
For example: high school seniors.
They are fun the first semester and become a royal pain from January to June.
If you didn't care much for them at the beginning you'll loathe them by April.
A genuine affection for kids will carry you through tough parent conferences, kids who are behavior problems and thousands of overheard conversation snippets consisting of "So then I like said...
and then she like said", "That sucks", "You know" and "Whatever.
" If you love your subject and could spend days debating the pros and cons of various ideas and philosophies, teaching K-12 might not be for you.
Kids are not mature enough to show the same level of interest in your subject that you do and won't be able to discuss it with the depth that you would like.
Many people fail at teaching because they put their emphasis on loving their subject rather than loving the students they are teaching.
Students will do things to you and to each other that are hateful, vengeful, cruel, thoughtless and pointless.
Older students also tend to believe that all adults are stupid and clueless.
You have to have an innate belief that they can become productive citizens and be willing and able to help them do that.
You have to be able to see things from a student perspective and acknowledge that their perspective is valid for them, even though it might be very flawed from an adult perspective.
Liking them isn't enough to keep you coming back year after year.
You gotta love them!
But there is one characteristic that must exist before any of the rest matter.
What is it? You have to love kids.
Seems simple, but it's brought an end to many teachers' careers.
Liking kids isn't enough.
You must truly enjoy spending time with them and listening to them talk.
You have to be able to see their antics and comments as funny rather than juvenile.
Kids of all ages can spot a teacher who is condescending or insincere.
Why isn't it enough to just like kids? Well, there will be certain times when their charm fades and what you once saw as cute behavior is now just annoying.
If you loved them initially you will still be able to like them well enough to get through the tough times.
For example: high school seniors.
They are fun the first semester and become a royal pain from January to June.
If you didn't care much for them at the beginning you'll loathe them by April.
A genuine affection for kids will carry you through tough parent conferences, kids who are behavior problems and thousands of overheard conversation snippets consisting of "So then I like said...
and then she like said", "That sucks", "You know" and "Whatever.
" If you love your subject and could spend days debating the pros and cons of various ideas and philosophies, teaching K-12 might not be for you.
Kids are not mature enough to show the same level of interest in your subject that you do and won't be able to discuss it with the depth that you would like.
Many people fail at teaching because they put their emphasis on loving their subject rather than loving the students they are teaching.
Students will do things to you and to each other that are hateful, vengeful, cruel, thoughtless and pointless.
Older students also tend to believe that all adults are stupid and clueless.
You have to have an innate belief that they can become productive citizens and be willing and able to help them do that.
You have to be able to see things from a student perspective and acknowledge that their perspective is valid for them, even though it might be very flawed from an adult perspective.
Liking them isn't enough to keep you coming back year after year.
You gotta love them!
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