Many different things reflect on the role a teacher plays in the classroom and their role as a professional. I believe these 5 terms in particular are important in doing this:

Integrity

The word itself means to be honest, and to have strong moral principles. Children are not born with integrity, they develop it as they grow up and learn how to behave. As children learn most of their behaviours they will need in later life such as honesty, respect and social responsibility in the classroom, it is important we show them integrity so they too can pick it up and learn how to be moral citizens.

Compassion

To be compassionate, is to show sympathy and concern for others. By showing compassion to our pupils, it shows we care. It shows we are paying attention to them and acknowledging them. By being compassionate we are passing this trait on to out pupils. It is important they too learn to be compassionate to succeed in later life.

Patience

Different children will learn at different paces, and it is important to realise some children will take a lot more time to grasp concepts than others. So whilst we will have to have patience with everyone, some pupils will require even more. It is important as a teacher to have this skill, as learning from someone who is impatient is frustrating as nothing will be broken down and explained slowly enough until understood.

Kindness

Kindness is important in teaching as it reflects on who you are as a person. Children do not want to learn from someone they are scared of. A kind teacher is approachable and their pupils are more likely engage in lessons and ask questions. Kindness is a characteristic of being friendly. Even though we are not in the classroom to be friends with our pupils, it is important they see us as a kind approachable adult they can trust to learn from.

Fairness

Fairness in the classroom is important to ensure all the pupils are treated equally. It would be unfair to only praise one person when everyone else has done that same thing well too. This would cause upset and even de-motivate some pupils. Everyone in this world wants to be treated equally, and by being fair in the classroom you are portraying to your pupils that equality is important and that you should not favour certain people.