Qualities Of An Outstanding Teacher

An outstanding teacher is an educator who recognizes that their students are unique, which different sets of strengths and weaknesses, and adapts their teaching style to best meet their students’ needs on a personal level. An outstanding teacher teaches with their students and not at their students. There are many good teachers who are able to effectively teach their students the required material, but an outstanding teacher inspires kids to achieve to their fullest potential. The three qualities that I possess that will make me an outstanding teacher are empathy, adaptability and positivity. Empathy will allow me to relate with my students on a personal level and understand the challenges that each of my students face educationally. Being an outstanding teacher involves juggling a variety of different roles, and by being adaptable
I will be able to best adjust to any situation or environment that I come across. Finally, with a positive outlook on life, I will be able to best meet the needs of my students everyday regardless of the circumstances. The summer after my freshman year, I was a part of a university led community development study abroad program in Dangriga, Belize.
The goal of this yearly program is to help students use their classroom knowledge to solve real world problems, and to create sustainable economic growth in Dangriga (which is a small, economically depressed, coastal village). I joined in order to work with the education team, so that I could receive training and gain experience teaching students. Learning to create lesson plans and working with peers in the education field definitely matched my personality and interests, but leading a lesson with the third grade students at a small elementary school in town most solidified my desire to become a teacher. The students, despite their personal and socioeconomic challenge, brimmed with excitement and passion for learning; they engaged well with me and in turn helped to make my first lesson plan a success. I was energized by their appetite for learning, and it was there that I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in education so that I could keep tapping into this youthful and unbridled desire for
learning, Between now and five years from now, I hope to have successfully completed the Urban Teachers program, graduated with my Masters in Education and become a licensed teacher in Maryland. I want to have been at the same school for a couple of years, and I want this school to be a place that has an ever-growing positive learning environment for students. I hope to be continuing on at this school the following year and hopefully taking on more responsibility within the school. Ten years from now, I would like to begin looking towards continuing my own education in the field of either School Psychology or School Administration. After almost a decade as a teacher, I hope to be able to discover a niche for myself where I will be an even greater asset to my students.