Sad, but true: there are a lot of misconceptions in people’s minds about teaching. If it’s not things like “those that can’t, teach”, then it’s ideas like “teaching is so boring”. As such, it’s not uncommon to come across people that can’t for the life of them understand why anyone would want to be a teacher, as the profession comes across to them as being mundane and dull.
In reality, and as anyone in the profession can tell you, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Unwavering Dedication
Teaching is a profession made up of talented, passionate, and highly intelligent individuals who love learning, and who love passing that love for learning on to their students. They have an unwavering dedication to the education and growth of their students, and they often go far out of their way to ensure the needs of their students are met.
The best teachers have a deep and genuine love for the subject matter they teach, too, and have spent many years learning as much as they can about it in order to pass that enthusiasm and knowledge on to their students. That alone deserves a lot of respect.
Creating Dynamic Classroom Environments
Teachers also work hard to create dynamic, interesting learning environments in their classrooms, often going above and beyond the scope of their jobs to bring the best information and lessons to their students. In so doing, they often inspire the all-important curiosity and passion for learning that students carry into their adult lives.
Complementing their efforts to make an interesting classroom environment is the personalised attention they give their students. They serve as mentors, advocates, and role models, and encourage and support their students to learn and grow.
Continued Commitment
A teacher’s training doesn’t end when they enter their first classroom, either: they demonstrate their continued commitment to their profession by staying up to date with the latest pedagogical approaches and attending professional development courses that help them to continuously refine their teaching practices.
Knowledge and Experience, Shared
But perhaps a teacher’s most important skill, and one that takes time and commitment to develop, is their ability to translate complex concepts into understandable terms for an audience that doesn’t have the same knowledge they do. Through their knowledge and experience, teachers can help students explore new ideas, appreciate new perspectives, and truly open their minds to the wonders of the world.
Selflessness
Teachers are selfless individuals with an appreciation of the power of education on young minds and its ability to shape societies, and they are committed to spreading their knowledge and ideas far and wide for the sake of a better tomorrow.
How anyone can say that any of this sounds boring, is a mystery.
Adapt and Inspire
Furthermore, when teachers make their subjects interesting, and they adapt what they are teaching in ways that engage and inspire their students, they are encouraging those youngsters to find what excites them, to explore their own minds, and ultimately, to become the best versions of themselves.
With a curriculum that supports all of these objectives, teachers are armed to change the world with the most powerful weapon humanity has: knowledge.