A great teacher molds the minds of today’s youth to build a better tomorrow
There are various people in this world who can inspire children to do many things. These people include professional athletes, celebrities, singers, Fortune 500 business owners, authors, and possibly even a politician. However, even though these people were motivated to pursue a career in different directions, they all have one thing in common. They were all guided and inspired by teachers. Whether they were a basketball teacher, singing teacher, acting teacher, business teacher, writing teacher, or political science teacher, all of these people were inspired by at least one educator or multiple teachers to get them where they are and where they are going.
Without inspirational teachers, Kobe Bryant doesn’t win five NBA championships, Katharine Hepburn doesn’t win four best actress awards, Stevie Wonder doesn’t win 25 Grammy Awards, Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t create Facebook, Shakespeare doesn’t write Romeo and Juliet, and Barak Obama doesn’t. becomes the first African-American president of the United States. All of these people succeeded in righting him. However, none of them could have succeeded without at least one inspiring teacher. 99% of the time, that teacher came from a classroom somewhere along the line.
To be an inspiring teacher you need five basic characters; (1) are passionate; They have a passion for education and teaching students. (2) They are engaged; they are committed to being the best teachers they can be 365 days a year, not just the 190 we are contracted to work with. (3) They have high expectations: Inspiring teachers find ways to take students to the next level to prepare them for life beyond the classroom. (4) They are accessible; they are always accessible and there for their students as a helping hand when needed. AND (5) Inspiring teachers care deeply about the lives and futures of the children they serve. These five characteristics of an inspiring teacher help foster positive relationships with students. These relationships are what make the teacher inspiring in the eyes of his students. When he develops these positive relationships, students begin to trust you, invest in your class, go above and beyond what is expected of them, develop a passion and enthusiasm for learning, and commit to excellence.
An inspiring teacher not only impacts a student’s career, but also instills the characteristics of an inspiring teacher in a student’s mind, body, and soul. Like the previous list of people who inspired and continue to inspire children today, students who admire and are taught by an inspiring teacher will continue the chain of inspiration when they become adults working in their desired field.
Just think about this; the average teacher works 190 days a year and works an average of 30 years in education. That means a teacher has about 5,400 days in his career to inspire as many kids as he can. During those 30 years he will serve an average of 2,550 students or so. If during those 30 years you only inspire 10 students, by the definition of an inspiring teacher, and they go on to inspire 10 students/kids in their career, that single teacher will be responsible for inspiring thousands they have never met before. . Now imagine if we reached out to inspire 50 students throughout our career. As Arthur William Ward once said: “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher
teachers inspire.”
If you are a teacher reading this article, challenge yourself today, tomorrow and throughout the rest of your career to inspire the youth of today. The result of all this inspiration will be equal to one thing; A BETTER MORNING!