Efficacy: The "can-do" attitude!

Being self-aware, possessing confidence and persistence, having a strong work ethic, and believing in one’s own abilities are essential traits of the effective teacher.

Teachers need to be aware of who they are as a person. They need to be in tune with themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally and accept and be confident about who they are. Besides being confident about themselves, teacher need to be confident in their abilities and about their knowledge of their subject matter. Yes, no one person knows or can do everything, but teachers need to present themselves as humble experts of their field. Experts in the sense that they teach and answer questions with confidence and humble in the sense that if they do not know an answer or how to do something, they admit it and either tell the students they will find the answer or provide the students with the resources to discover the answer on their own.

Persistence is important too. Teachers cannot give up on their classes or on individual students. Not every student or class will progress at the same rate as the others. Teachers need to be persistent in finding new teaching techniques that best reach all of their students and classes.

In addition to this already long list of excellent qualifications of effective teachers, it is extremely important to have a strong work ethic. In life, talent alone will only get a person so far, but combine talent with hard work and motivation and there is no telling what a person can accomplish. A mentor of mine always told me, “If you want to be good at something, work hard at it; if you want to be great at something, work hard at it and like it.” So to this list of effective teacher credentials I would like to add enthusiasm. I think it is so important to be excited about what one is teaching. Enthusiasm is truly contagious. If the teacher is truly excited about something, it will be very hard for students not to be. The opposite is also very true. If a teacher is not excited about something, why should the students be? This alone justifies the need for teachers to be enthusiastic and have a desire to continue to learn and grow.

How are these attributes best developed. In all humility, I do not know. I think some are innate qualities, I think some can be learned, but I believe all of them can be developed through experience and practice, regardless of whether they are innate or learned. Teachers need to practice all these attributes. Teachers must work towards being self-aware, confident, persistent, developing a strong work ethic, and believing on one’s own abilities. It will not necessarily be easy but that is where persistence and having a great work ethic come into play.