Some middle school teachers deserve much more than an apple.
Perhaps you've had a few teachers throughout your school years who really made an impact on your life. Whether they simply help you stay focused or help you shape tomorrow, effective teachers are crucial to the future of their students. Knowing what makes an effective middle school teacher can help you become one.
Adaptability
The ability to grow, change and adapt is critical to being an effective middle school teacher. Focus on personal growth and expansion, allowing yourself to grow and expand with students, other faculty, administration and time. Let your strong values help you stay ahead of the curve and promote such growth in your students at a time when they're coming into their own and discovering who they are.
Mental and Emotional Dedication
Effective middle school teachers have to be mentally and emotionally dedicated to their work. You may not always have the most cooperative students, which makes emotional dedication so important. Through such dedication, relationships with the students form, which may allow you to become one of the teachers the student remembers fondly for life. Middle school is about the time when many children hit puberty. Teachers who aren't dedicated may have a harder time dealing with the side effects of puberty, such as tiredness and extreme emotions.
Organization
It is important for effective middle school teachers to be mentally and physically organized. Arrive early to class with a clear plan for the day and leave at the end knowing what you will need to prepare for the next school day. Eliminate confusion through well thought-out and written lesson plans, class rules, grading policies and assignments, allowing students to set their focus on the classwork. Mental organization and clarity makes dealing with a class full of rowdy middle schoolers easier, and physical organization helps instill the value of neatness through example.
Engaging the Students
Effective middle school teachers often engage students, including them in the daily lessons and giving them a chance to voice their opinions and views on the subject matter. Ask frequent questions and encourage the same from students while trying to get the whole class involved. Encourage students to always ask "why?" to promote deeper understanding of subject matter. This also helps expand their young minds and get them in the habit of continually learning instead of simply learning what they need to pass a test.
Masters of Their Field
To truly be effective as a middle school teacher, you must be an expert in your field. Whether you're teaching general education, math, English or any other subject, a strong passion for it and inside-out knowledge of the subject give you what's needed to teach best. While you may be able to relay concepts through a basic understanding or moderate knowledge of a subject, being a true expert ensures no student questions go unanswered and everybody leaves understanding what they were just taught. This is particularly important for middle school teachers because it's their task to prepare students for high school. If students fail to grasp the subjects they're taught now, high school will present even more problems.
Leadership and Management Capabilities
A middle school teacher is like the manager of an office full of children. Being able to keep them focused and on task requires many of the same skills that make an effective manager. Good communication skills, an ability to understand and react to the needs and problems of others and the ability to recognize and fix problems promptly are equally important in both fields. It also helps to have strong leadership traits, such as passion for your work, a creative mind and a humble, yet stern sense of confidence.
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