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October 25, 2021
5 min read

What Makes a Teacher a Good Teacher?

What Makes a Teacher a Good Teacher?
Written By
Pooja Pant

Pooja Pant

Pooja, currently a Content Creator at Suraasa, is a former English teacher. On a personal note, she likes it when people follow her on Instagram.😀

Why are my students not so interested in learning from me?”

“How can I make my class/lectures more interesting for my students to concentrate easily?”

“How to become the best teacher of the batch?”


Are you seeking the answers to these questions? Do you feel that something is missing between you and your students? If “Yes”, then my friend, you’ve landed on the right page. Teaching is just as tricky as being taught. It comes with a lot of different types of pressure:

The pressure of completing the course, the pressure of ensuring that students understand, the pressure of being judged by the principal, students, parents, and what not…

With so much pressure that stems from our many responsibilities, we sometimes forget the purpose of our job and start focusing on just getting things done. At last, we land up in a puddle of self-doubt and start to overthink about all the ‘Maybe’s

“Maybe I am not a good teacher…”, “Maybe I can never be a good teacher...”, “Maybe I was never meant to be a teacher…”

Relatable, isn’t it? We know it’s tough! Being a teacher can be overwhelming sometimes. You may feel that you made the wrong career choice and wasted so many years of your life for nothing!

But that’s not true. You are way smarter than this, and you already know that. All you need is to polish your teaching skills and focus on developing the qualities of a good teacher. What are the right skills of teaching, you ask?

These are the skills that help you convert your boring class into an exciting one and communicate with your students in a more engaging manner. We call them “pedagogical skills”.

Come, let’s understand pedagogy and its importance in our life as a teacher in detail.

teaching classes

What Is Pedagogy? (More Than A BuzzWord)

As a teacher, you might already be aware that every student is unique in their ways of learning. That makes it essential for us to learn different teaching styles so that we can explain the same topic to multiple students while addressing their diverse learning needs.

“Pedagogy is the art, science, and profession of teaching”, as mentioned in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. It’s all about learning different & better teaching methods.

Pedagogical skills refer to the skills and techniques employed by teachers to ensure effective and thorough learning. They help us ensure that our students can comprehend and apply their knowledge in real-life situations easily. Further, there are two main types of pedagogy in education: one is teacher-centric and the other is student-centric.

Let’s discuss this in detail…

kids teaching

Teacher-Centric vs Student-Centric Pedagogy

As the name suggests, teacher-centric pedagogy focuses more on the comfort and ease of teachers. It’s more about a teacher giving straightforward instructions in the lectures without making any additional effort to explain the topic to every student as per their understanding.

Even the assessments in teacher-centric pedagogy are meant to test rote theoretical knowledge. Each student is expected to write a memorised answer for ease in evaluation by the teacher, leaving little opportunity for them to be creative.

Whereas in student-centric learning, a teacher puts effort into clarifying the concept to each and every student in the class. This type of learning focuses more on engaging the students using their own learning styles to make learning easier and more fun for them. There are frequent and unique assessments in the student-centric learning process so the teacher and the student can regularly track their progress.

So which pedagogy approach should you use to improve student engagement in the class? The student-centric one, right?

However, most of us have been involved in the teacher-centric learning process to date, without actually realising it. That’s natural, cause we’ve learned how to teach, but we haven’t been told how to do it effectively. Teaching is supposed to be about making concepts clear using practical examples instead of imparting the bookish knowledge to our students.

kids taking notes class

Key Takeaway…

Pedagogy is not just one method of teaching. Instead, it's a whole concept in itself, and learning this concept is essential for every teacher who wants to become successful and wants their students to love them.

So do you think you’re ready to learn more about pedagogy, its types, and its importance in your career?

Yes?

Great, then! Let’s take a step ahead and move on to learning about the different types of pedagogy.

Teacher Training


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Written By
Pooja Pant

Pooja Pant

Pooja, currently a Content Creator at Suraasa, is a former English teacher. On a personal note, she likes it when people follow her on Instagram.😀

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Meet Suraasa, the World’s First Career Growth Platform for Teachers.

We empower teachers to attain desired growth opportunities and career outcomes with skill-based pedagogy training and accredited qualifications.

Meet Suraasa, the World’s First Career Growth Platform for Teachers.

We empower teachers to attain desired career outcomes with skill-based pedagogy training & accredited qualifications.
Book a 30-minute session with a Suraasa Mentor to learn more!
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