There are many traits that a teacher must have in order to be successful and professional. Below, I have chosen five that I feel to be important in becoming a successful teacher.

Patience

In my mind, patience is one of the most important skills in being a teacher. In a classroom, not all children learn at the same pace. You need to remain calm and patient with the class in order to provide the best possible learning environment. It is unprofessional and unfair to the children to get angry with them if they are not able to complete a task. You need patience to be able to help them with the task and be willing to help some children more than others get over their difficulties.

Empathy

Empathy is another key feature to making a good teacher. Being able to empathise with your children means you are able to build a trusting relationship with them and as a result it will create a more positive atmosphere in the classroom. By bringing yourself to their level, they will feel confident and comfortable in approaching you for any help that they need. Not being able to empathise with your children could harm your relationship with them which in turn could affect their learning.

Respect

Respect is another very important trait a teacher should have. To create a positive and comfortable learning environment, as a teacher you must gain respect from all of your children. But to keep this respect, it is important that you respect your class of children as well. However, respect should not just be created between teacher and child. It is important to keep a positive atmosphere throughout a school and to do this, teachers must respect each other as well as parents. This way a positive atmosphere can be kept in the school.

Fairness

It is very important to treat each child in your class fairly and equally. It is very unprofessional to show favouritism towards one or two children and let them get away with rules that the rest of the class must follow. You must also avoid stereotyping children that come into your class. It is important not to let matters such as race, gender and class cloud your judgement and treat them any differently to the rest of the children.

Kindness

Showing kindness towards your children can help build a trusting relationship between you and the child. It will make them feel more comfortable coming into school everyday knowing that you are going to be kind and willing to help them. If you shout or get angry with the children on a regular basis, not only will they not feel comfortable in your class, they may begin to fear you and this can have a huge affect on their learning. At the same time, it is important that you develop the right balance between kindness and professionalism. Being too kind could give the children the idea that they can get away with not working as hard as they should.