Teachers are age–old professionals and teaching is an age–old profession. Sometimes I wonder, if teaching was the first profession of this mighty world?

To think about it rather seriously, I feel it indeed must have been the first ever profession.

Well, coming back to the present day; teachers, nowadays, are given numerous tags – good, bad, strict, friendly, smart, casual and what not. But which of these tags actually refer to an IDEAL TEACHER?

I would say, many of them.

The most common terms used for an Ideal Teacher are Friend, Philosopher and Guide. But, I would rather like to describe an Ideal Teacher using some unconventional terms.

First and foremost - HUMBLE and HONEST

I feel, teachers need to take it easy on themselves. Just like any other human being on Earth, teachers also can make mistakes, they might not know about every single thing or happenings in the world. All they need to do is own up.

So teachers, if you have made a mistake in a calculation or a spelling or you are not able to instantly answer a question asked by one of your curious students during the class...it’s OK.

Just thank your student with a smile, for pointing out the mistake and correct it.

For a question, to which you don’t have an instant answer, tell your student that you would find out the answer for them.

Here, I would like to mention, we teachers do connect to our students quite easily. But in today’s education scenario, having the students connect to their teachers is a real daunting task. And trust me, these small gestures of honesty and humbleness will help your students connect to you...faster and better.

The second important quality – KNOWLEDGE about the Subject

People often say if you have confidence you can pull off any situation.

But I feel otherwise, atleast for teachers. I would say, knowledge about your subject gives you the required confidence.

Students love to know about new things and new facts and when we blend regular learning with interest facts and new findings, we win their interest in our class hands down.

For the third one, I would say ORATORY SKILLS

Being a good orator is very important for any teacher. Teaching involves a lot of public speaking.

We confront almost around 40 to 50 young minds every hour. To influence them in the right way, to make them understand what we are trying to convey; it is very important that we have good oratory skills. If we cannot draw and hook their attention towards us during the class...those 45 minutes of ours as well as theirs becomes just a waste of time. And as for the young minds, we cannot continue to have their attention towards us if they cannot hear us properly.

If we travel back in time and try to remember our childhood, when we were students, I can bet all of us liked to be in the class of those teachers who had a clear and prominent voice. We liked those teachers more who used to include us in the class rather than taking our class.

The same goes for students of every generation and so I feel having good oratory skills helps us to make a positive place in the students mind and heart.

At times, a teacher needs to be a COUNSELOR too and I have kept this quality on the fourth place.

We have many students sitting in our class...each of them a different individual...coming from a different background...having different inhibitions and strengths.

Students look up to their teachers. Often, they seek guidance and help from the teacher they like. This is where counseling comes in.

To guide a student in the right path, we must know what drives the student….what are his inhibitions and his strengths. The teacher must give the student a comfortable environment to share his problems or as a matter of fact anything that is bothering him.

Children often take wrong steps while trying to hide their inhibitions; due to the lack of proper guidance. We teachers can help our students open up about the negatives in their life and recognize more positives about themselves.

Last but definitely not the least, FRIENDLY and COMPASSIONATE

A teacher needs to be friendly and compassionate towards her students. Her presence should comfort her students and not make them anxious. The teacher must build up an approachable personality, so that her students are never hesitant to seek her help or guidance.

Again, being friendly does not take away the right of a teacher to be strict with her students.

I personally feel, if a teacher wants her students to have productive learning, she needs to be both – friendly and strict with her students; with more of being friendly and less of strictness.

Having talked about the above qualities, I would also like to add...every student is different and so is every teacher. The ultimate goal of being a teacher is to impart education to our students and to bring positive changes in their life.

So, I would say, every person who brings about a positive learning in the life of young minds is an ideal teacher, irrespective of his or her profession

- By Payal Roy, Asst. Teacher