By: Robbie McAnelly

Teaching is more than a profession; it is the ability to inspire a student to learn. It is the capability to connect with a student and push them to enjoy learning what they are being taught. 

Some teachers, while professionally capable, do not have the personal charisma and qualities needed to make the connection with a student. A teacher listening to the individual needs of a student is essential to their learning potential. All students are different and need to be attended to accordingly so they can fully understand the material.

A teacher should always be willing to help a student with homework or answer a question in class; it shows desire for teacher and student alike for the student to learn. Teachers designing their lesson plans to meet the needs of individual students is fundamental. Many students enjoy learning from unique methods, such as creating posters to present in front of class or putting together a PowerPoint presentation. Not only are these teaching methods a fun variation of typical, tedious classwork, some students actually grasp what they are being taught better this way.

Another key to success is fairness. Being fair transcends to many aspects. A teacher should always assign work that a student should be able to comprehend. Sure, a teacher may want to give a challenging assignment to test the mental capability of their students, but they shouldn’t expect them to be able to do work on concepts entirely over their heads. The work given to the students should cover the material they already understand. Students should not be expected to teach themselves. The teacher should be an aiding catalyst in the student’s understanding of the material. Giving too much work over concepts the students are not familiar with could lead them to be overloaded and could reflect in the student’s grades in other classes.

A teacher needs personal drive. Personal drive is a rare quality. It is entirely up to the teacher’s personal work effort how much a student learns. All teachers need to be inspired to teach. They need to love what they do to make students love what they are doing for them. It is this personal drive that ultimately defines the personal drive of the students they teach.

The skills listed above are not taught in any college class; they are talents that only certain people possess. The people with these skills need to be the ones teaching, for they are they people made for the job. A teacher who teaches well is someone who aspires to do so and do all they can to help their students learn. Teaching really is a skill that can’t be taught.