Characteristics of an Effective Educator

My general impression is that an effective educator is one who can provide students with knowledge while also teaching them how to find knowledge on their own. Teachers that I remember well were knowledgeable in their subject fields and aware of where they could locate information they did not have on hand. Furthermore, teachers could complete demonstrations or visual aids when necessary.

Without having previously taught in any official classroom setting, my impressions of what makes for an effective educator come from my times in less formal settings and from how my high school and elementary school teachers taught. In both cases, patience seemed to be the most useful trait for keeping the classroom or other setting running smoothly. Teachers who dealt patiently with students usually seemed to help students reach their goals smoothly; furthermore, in my settings, I often found that putting in an extra measure of patience led to the students I was teaching or tutoring being more receptive of what I said. Good teachers were also knowledgeable about their subjects and able to provide extra information if students requested it.

In addition to providing knowledge, effective teachers also encouraged students to look for knowledge themselves, and part of this seemed to be having reasonably high expectations of their students. Teachers , although willing to help when necessary, expected students to be able to complete assignments as much on their own as possible. Students who learned from those teachers were usually in possession of broad knowledge and also capable of finding more knowledge for themselves.