The Teacher

• Chapter 3
 In this chapter, emphasis is on Teacher. They are considered
as the prime mover of educational process and are the ones
who facilitate the whole process of learning.
 The teacher’s primary concern is to make learning
experience, whether inside or outside the classroom
effective, productive & meaningful. For this reason, he is
obliged to make every learning activity gratifying.
 Learning advocates have since acknowledged the concept of
individual differences as a major consideration in learning
process, thus in learning process the teachers assume every
learner is distinct & different from each other in terms of
interests, traits, abilities, characteristics & maturity.

Varied Roles of a Teacher

 As a Manager -responsible for the effective mgmt. of his class
from start to finish
 As a Counselor -he counsels learner especially when they are
beset by problems.
 As a Motivator –Encouraging & motivating learners to study
well & behave properly in & outside classroom.
 As a Leader –a leader directs, coaches, supports & delegate
depending on the need of situation.
 As a Model –a teacher is exemplar. He serve as model to his
learners. Learners idolize their teacher; they believe the
things that they say, especially if they show kindness & are
approachable & sympathetic to their needs
 As a Public Relation Specialist – The credibility of the school
is attributed most of the time to the ways the teacher deals
with all the people outside the school, like school
benefactors, parents, church leaders, government employees,
and others.
 As a Parent-surrogate –In school, the teacher is the parent of
the learners. Parents have a feeling of security knowing that
their children are in good hands.
 As a Facilitator – He/she is the facilitator of learning. The
learners must be given a chance to discuss things under the
close supervision & monitoring of the teacher.
 As an Instructor –the main function of teacher is instruction.
All the other role aforementioned are corollary to teaching.
At the heart of teacher’s role is the advancement of learning.
Their duties include the following:
• Know how to employ the most effective teaching & learning
strategies to enable children & young people to make
progress.
• Evaluate what their learners know, understand & can do;
be able to use this assessment to prepare future teaching &
learning activities.
• Have high expectation for all their pupils of whatever class,
race, gender & ability
• Recognize how to motivate their learners– to do this they
need to be effective role models for the students they
teach.

Professional Attributes for a Teacher

The following list describes affective characteristics & behavior
expected of a profession educator:
Physical Characteristics
 Health & wellness- the candidate has the physical & mental
character, sufficient motor coordination & energy, adequate
visual & auditory acuity & good health needed to effectively
& implement the institutional & managerial duties associated
with teaching the levels & fields for which he is being
prepared.
 Appearance-the candidate takes pride in his personal
appearance; is well groomed and present himself in a
 professional manner appropriate to the age of students being
taught.
Personality Characteristics
 Cooperation –The candidate has a good moral attitude; works
cooperatively with peers, site teachers, & faculty; contributes
constructively to the realization of group objective; is vocal
about his opinion, avoids sarcasm.
 Tactfulness –The candidate is modest in the use of words &
actions upon others; tempers his words in consideration of the
feelings of other people and avoids situation which offend
institutional & community mores.
 Flexibility & patience –The candidate displays a willingness &
ability to adapt to changes in events, conditions, activities,
innovation, and tasks & an overall patience for circumstances
& human interactions.
 Organization –The candidate monitors & controls time,
materials, and product expectations; is good at classroom &
time management.
 Enthusiasm –The candidate displays energy & enthusiasm and
responds appropriately to humor.
 Creativity –The candidate synthesizes theory & practice into
new personalized adaptation & application.
 Initiative & risk taking - The candidate displays independence
& motivation & is not resistant to undertake new activities &
assignments.
Responsibility Characteristics
 Responsibility -The candidate undertake & completes assigned
tasks, assume his role/functions; attend to his position, meet
university & program requirements & deadlines, anticipates
problems & plans ahead & adapts to professional standards &
policies; has a good moral ethics.
 Attendance & punctuality -The candidate is always present &
punctual for class & appointments; arrange ahead of time
with all necessary individuals for unavoidable delays or
 absences; and does not solicit except for any but very special
& legitimate circumstances.
 Maturity- The candidate displays poise in task completion &
personal interactions, acknowledges his own responsibility &
culpability, and does not pass on blame to others or
rationalize his own inadequate or mission performance; has
integrity & is honest in professional dealings.
Communication Skills
 Oral communication -The candidate reflects appropriate voice
& speech delivery; clarity, fluency and grammatical
correctness; uses standard English and understandable
accent; appropriate formality to any situation’ and verbal
flexibility allowing rephrasing or translating of ideas or
questions until instruction is clear to students.
 Written communication -The written output of the candidate
reflects appropriate & accurate spelling, grammar,
punctuation, syntax, format, and English usage; and
demonstrate organization & compositions that effectively
communicate ideas, directions, explanations, lesson plans,
messages and other teaching related written output.
Professional Relationship Skills
 Demeanor- The candidate demonstrate positive attitudes in
interactions with other professionals; collaborate with peers;
respect authority; complies with rules & report problems with
school & university operations with reference to specific
evidence & reasonable courtesy.
 Rapport -The candidate relates easily & appropriately to
children, youth & other responsible to him, providing
leadership or direction while involving others & listening to
and incorporating their desires & concerns.
 Awareness -The candidate recognizes & empathizes with
human differences in ethnicity, gender, physical ability &
intellectual ability and demonstrate sensitivity to social
expectations in varied environments.
Commitment to Teaching Profession
 Professionalism -The candidate demonstrates a passion for
teaching; recognizes, seeks, & applies the best theory,
research and practice in professional activities; is proud to
assert his intention of becoming a teacher and demonstrate a
commitment to education as a career.
 Withiness -The candidate exhibits simultaneous awareness of
all aspects of the learning environment.
 Reflectivity -The candidate reflects and evaluates
professional experiences with constructive criticism.

Qualities of a Good Teacher

Good teacher knows that by listening to & working with
colleagues, parents, other professionals & community members,
they can inspire students & improve learning. Personal qualities
& skills that make a good teacher includes:

 Being good at explaining things.

 Being a person who enjoys working with wide range of people.
 Being enthusiastic.
 Having a strong knowledge in a particular subject areas
 Being good at time management.
 The ability to work in a teams and uses his own initiative.
 Keeping cool under pressure.
 Having patience & good sense of humor
 Being fair minded.
 Coping well with change and
 Enjoying a challenge

Personal Qualities of a Good Teacher

Dent (1961) enumerate the personal qualities of a good teacher
which are as follows:
 Firstly, the teacher’s personality should be pleasantly active,
dynamic & attractive. This does not rule out physically plain
or even ugly as there are those such with great personal
charm but rules out types like over-excited, melancholic,
frigid, sarcastic, cynical, frustrated, & overbearing. It
exclude all dull or purely negative personality.
 Secondly, a teacher should have genuine capacity for
sympathy – a capacity to tune in to the minds & feelings of
other people, especially those of the students. Closely
related is being tolerant on the frailty & immaturity of the
students, give allowance to making mistakes.

 Thirdly, the teacher is both intellectually & morally honest.

He is should have an honest assessment of his strengths &
limitations and can decide morally as guidance of his life. At
times a teacher need to be a bit of an actor, that at times a
need to put an act to enliven a lesson, can correct a fault or
dispense praise as applicable.
 A teacher must remain mentally alert. He should continue to
advance intellectually and not stagnate. He must be quick to
adapt to any situation, however difficult it is & should be in a
position to improvise, if necessary at a short notice.
 Fourthly, a teacher must be infinitely patient being part of his
self discipline & self training. He must be resilient as teaching
has great demands on nervous energy. Dealing with children/
students who by nature have naughtiness, thus he need to
endure mischief even unpleasant behavior on day-to-day
encounters.
 Fifthly a teacher should have mind for continuous learning as
teaching is field where there are always something more to
learn. He has to contend with three (3) principal objects of
study: subjects, methods by which to teach effectively & the
learner, the most important component
Principles for Teachers
Conceptual understanding of core knowledge
 Refers to teacher’s ability to communicate & solve problems
using central concepts, tools of inquiry and structure of
different principles. This set of skills is demonstrated
respectively the ability to:
 define learning goals that reflect mastery of the subject
matter.
 design & effect the kind of instruction that develops
student’s conceptual framework.
 provide meaningful learning activities to improve learner’s
communication & quantitative skills
 model effective communication & problem solving.
 apply variety of media & technology;
 distinguish high quality educational materials and
 Write & speak with clarify for effective communication
Reflective practice
 Refers to teacher’s ability to step outside of the experiences
that make up teaching, relate such experiences and analyze &
critique the impact of such experience & contextualize it
from multiple perspective is called reflective practice.
Reflective practice is the ability to:
 expound on the principles that guides teaching.
 demonstrate teaching as inquiry process, collecting &
analyzing data about student’s learning & generating plan
designed to support student’s learning.
 make available teach from multiple perspective; do self-
assessment from multiple perspective
 gather information thru observation of classroom interaction;
evaluate learner’s dev’t & knowledge
 utilize assessment processes appropriate to learning
outcomes; and
 encourage learners to employ multiple approaches, solution
& diverse pathways to learning
Teaching for Understanding
 The ability of teacher draw on their knowledge & framework
structures to plan, implement, supplement and assess
effective learning experience through supportive social &
physical contexts for learning is termed teaching for
understanding. Furthermore, this is the ability to:
 set clear goals for learning experience; prepare suitable
classroom routines.
 provide learners with meaningful choices; create a
collaborative, supportive social environment.
 engage learners in generating knowledge & testing
hypothesis; develop learner’s ability for ideas
 apply multiple strategies that engage students in active
learning; motivate learners to see questions & interpret ideas
for themselves & their own learning.
 convince learners to assume responsibility for themselves &
their own learning.
 encourage all students to learn; provide interactive learning
environment.
 ask question that promote learning and build on children’s
prior knowledge.
Passion for teaching
 Refers to teacher’s ability to continually develop their own
complex content & pedagogical knowledge to support the
development of student’s habit of continual, purposeful
learning is know as passion for teaching. Also, this is the
ability to:
 summarize & teach complex concepts & network of
knowledge; consider learners’ intellectual, social & personal
growth
 support learners with special needs; include other disciplines
to create meaningful curriculum
 provide engagement activities thru multiple ways of knowing;
 allow for high & positive expectations for learner’s
achievement; include other disciplines to create meaningful
curriculum.
 provide learners opportunities to solve community problems
& make authentic choices; provide learner’s access to
learning opportunities;
 collaborate with other professionals when needed and
engage in personal inquiry to construct content knowledge &
skills
Understanding school in context of society & culture
 Refers to teacher’s ability to value & teach about diversity,
recognize the effect of social, cultural, economic & political
system on daily school life and to tap the potential of school
to minimize inequalities. It consist of the ability to:
 be change agent; communicate in ways that profess
sensitivity to a broad range of diversity.
 set as mediator when learners need help to resolve problems
or change attitude.
 Collaborate with parents, co-teacher, administrators, and
other community members in school activities; get involve in
the lives of student.
 include knowledge of community into teaching; and challenge
negative attitude.
Principle of Professionalism
 Refers to teacher’s ability to be active contributor/member of
professional communities that collaborate improve teaching &
student achievement by developing a culture of trust, share
ethics, established standards, and research-based practices.
It is the ability to:
 live up to the ethical principles guiding professional conduct;
demonstrate & document standards-based practices in the
classroom.
 remain updated in terms of research on teaching & new
developments in the discipline; seek membership in
 professional organizations & resource networks beyond the
school;
 include complex & difficult issues in dialogue with
colleagues; give presentation to other professionals
 initiate & lead activities such as teacher research, study
groups, coaching among others;
 enhance the teaching & learning of school community;
promote positive attitude.
 facilitate decision making and integrate democratic
principles in school operations