We all have our most hated subjects at school. Mathematics may have been your pet peeve; for others, History or Physics might have been their nightmare. Most of the time, the main reason why students despise attending some courses has something to do with their “teacher”. What exactly is the problem with teachers?

Based on researches, these are some teachers’ errors that often drive students crazy:

•    Taking very long time to return and grade students’ work. There are students who have missed their sleep to finish assignments. By the time, no feedback! Plenty of studies show that feedback afford students motivation and perseverance. Therefore, an assignment can lose relevancy if it is graded weeks after it has been submitted.

•    No patience with questions. Questioning means deep thinking, communicating and social interaction. It is important to show patience and empathy to all students while they are looking for responses.

•    Testing on topic they did not teach. How to call up knowledge about something you have never learned? Instead, students expect from their teachers to use the backwards design method – deciding what is needed to know and could be done before concepting the lesson – to make sure such issue does not happen in the classroom.

•    Punishing the whole class. Most students will find it unfair to bear the consequences of someone else’s acts. When teachers punish the class for inappropriate actions of a few students, the others often end up resenting them, and most likely lose their trust.

•    No autonomy in choice. For many students, studying at school is not so far from being imprisoned! This is the case when they are unable to choose their own group, which assignment to do first, topics which may interest them – in other words, when everything is so rigid and boring.

So, what makes a good teacher? A lot of surveys have been conducted and converge toward some common major points. Apart from seeing their friends, teachers’ character holds a big part in students’ motivation as well. Thus, showing appropriate methods cannot go alone to better student’s performance, teachers’ friendly personality will help meet the goal.

If teachers manage to motivate, to state forward topics and objectives, and to explain how the lessons they are about to teach will affect their students’ long-term success, teachers will triumph.

In a variety of potential, all students are not equal! They all come to class motivated in gaining new know-how. Then, both brainy and dull students need to believe themselves in what they are achieving. Besides, teachers sometimes need to take more individual approaches, by understanding what is going on in a particular student’s life and by showing empathy.

Good teachers are good communicators: when it comes to effective teaching, strong communication skills, including listening and speaking, are a must. Being able to provide humor in class makes students engaged and supplies creative lessons. A strong classroom animation is an important part of what makes someone a good teacher.

Sources: Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ), Southern New Hampshire University