I remember very well, when I was a kid I used to imitate my teacher after I reach home and make all my toys sit in a row like students and start acting like my favorite teacher Ms. Lilibeth. Since teachers in the Philippines wear uniforms, so I wasn’t really very much interested in her dress. But what I loved was the way she makes up her hair, the hair clip she used and yeah her perfume and I as a child wanted so much to be just like her. But of course these aren’t enough to love your teacher. There must be something really special in her that makes her outstand from the rest of the people around you and that is how she teaches you and what you are learning from her.
I’ve mentioned Ms. Lilibeth since she was my pre-primary teacher otherwise I had my favorites in every level of my schooling and each one of them were special in their own way. Now, what I want to share here is what I’ve liked and appreciated most from my teachers so whoever will read my post would learn something and be inspired. Who knows you might become the favorite of a little boy/girl in your school.
Well I would want teachers to be reading this but parents and anyone can benefit from this too since children are around us and it’s very important to be aware of their psychology and know exactly what they want and like. Please don’t get me wrong here, what I’m about to discuss aren’t enough to make a perfect teacher but these are just some important issues which is being neglected by many.
Work on your physical appearance- How you look is the most important here because believe me one of the main reasons kids start loving their school is because of how beautiful their teacher is.
Always wear clean clothes and try not to repeat your dress on consecutive days. Make sure you smell really good because when kids come near you, the first thing they do is check whether you smell good or not and if you don’t, they won’t come near you the next time you call them.
Though everyone washes their face in the morning, make sure you’re looking fresh and lively. Not all washed face look nice. So, you might want to put on some face powder and lipstick.
Don’t wear too much accessories like jewelries. Too much means too big because you will have difficulty handling your students since your earrings would need some handling too. Cute little earrings would look really decent. Wear something in your wrist too like watch or a tiny bracelet. Kids just love to see elders dress up nicely.
Be conscious about personal hygiene- I would mention this point again:
- Wear neat and clean clothes
- Long nails look really nice but make sure they are clean, in my opinion, I don’t recommend teachers of younger kids to have long nails and short nails look more elegant.
- Always wear clean and polished shoes or sandals. N this way, they would learn to keep theirs clean and polished too.
Neat hair- Always think of a neat hairdo in advance since it’s a tough task thinking of how to make your hair and it might consume so much of your time, so better pre plan about it. You don’t need to do too much with your hair just make sure it’s neatly tied up.
Speak gently- Although most of my teachers were very soft spoken and I tried my best to be one too but I failed in becoming so. Though I don’t have that soft voice and all, I definitely speak gently with kids. You don’t have to be soft spoken as it is something that comes naturally but you will have to practice to speak gently specially with kids since they are too young and are very sensitive. You may never know unintentionally you hurt their feelings by speaking loud or with high pitched tone and they find it rude so be careful.
Leave all your personal matters at home and meet your students with fresh, lively and high spirits. Bringing your personal problems to school can affect your way of teaching and you can become really boring in class or really rude. Remember you are handling very young kids and they are learning from every step you make and you wouldn’t want them to be rude and boring so ‘be like how you want your students to be.’
Last but not the least ALWAYS KEEP A SMILE ON YOUR FACE. Starting the day by giving smile would bring more smiles back to you.
The above are some points which I think are really important to be an effective teacher because if you lack even a single point from these, there is a child among lots who dislikes you for that one particular point. These are what I have liked in my teachers when I was in school and are what I asked my teachers who worked under me.
