The teaching qualification does not make you a professional in the true sense of the word. Belonging to a certain category does not automatically imply the professionalism of the service provided. Teaching professionally is difficult as it involves a number of tasks. Read this article to find out how to emerge as a true professional in your industry: the classroom and the school community.
Steps
Step 1. Gain the trust of your customers - students and parents
Make a positive first impression from the first day of the school year.
Step 2. Dress professionally
It is important to dress tastefully. Low-cut dresses are a must for teachers. Teachers should remember that the jacket and tie worn at work could be easily removed if needed. Teachers should arrive at school with a look that fits their role.
Step 3. Always be on time for work
A professional teacher understands the need to start the day right, every day. True professional teachers make sure to arrive ten minutes before the first bell rings, to prepare themselves psychologically for the day.
Step 4. Get ready
Check your agenda the night before and make a schedule for the day. Professional teachers make careful planning for each lesson and class. They stick to their program of work and assessment, to make sure not only that the content of the program is being carried out, but also that each pupil's goals are being met in their specific subject or area of learning.
Step 5. Follow your school's procedures and protocol
Professionals embrace corporate identity and values and forge them according to the needs of their clients - in this case their students.
Step 6. Take charge of your class
Manage your students' behavior on your own. A professional teacher does not go to school management to solve class discipline problems, for example.
Step 7. Be proud of the process and the product
Make sure your notes and handouts look professional. Professional teachers are never asked to redo a job because it is poor.
Step 8. Always meet deadlines
Professionals keep their work up to date and plan ahead. The amateurs do the work at the last minute.
Step 9. Keep student homework scores updated
The general three day rule should apply. If you take too long to return homework in class, in the meantime students will have lost interest in the assignment and its outcome.
Step 10. Treat your colleagues and superiors respectfully
If you set a good example for your students, earning their respect will be much easier for you.
Step 11. Be passionate, positive, and enthusiastic about your work
A professional teacher will not create a negative atmosphere in the teachers' room and will not give rise to useless gossip or continuous controversy.
Step 12. Promote what's new
A professional teacher is not pessimistic and will not dampen new ideas or suggestions for constructive change. A professional will never express thoughts like "This would never work in this school".
Step 13. Take an interest in every single pupil
The better you know your students, the more influence you will have on their attitude towards your subject and on their lives in general. Remember the maxim: “A teacher affects eternity; he can never say where his influence ends."
Step 14. Treat your students with respect
Follow the maxim "Do to others what you would like them to do to you". Never humiliate or denigrate your students in public. Never discuss their grades and achievements in front of their peers. Do not involve personal matters, family background, religious belief, and other circumstances in disciplinary proceedings and discussions.
Step 15. Be a mentor, not a friend
He embodies responsible values, shows self-control, choose words carefully and consider the impact they could have on a particular student or a group of students.
Step 16. Protect confidentiality
A professional teacher uses students' personal information to help them unleash their potential. Confidential information must not be disclosed during a coffee break or used as a weapon against a student. Even the topics of discussion of the teachers' meetings must be treated with the utmost confidentiality.
Step 17. Consult with parents
Try to involve them in the educational process and encourage them to support school disciplinary proceedings. When dealing with them, be gentle and calm. Remember that any aspect of your child needs to be addressed with his or her good first.
Step 18. Value security
Remember that as a professional teacher you are offering a service to students and the school community. You have a duty to take the parents' place seriously. Explain why certain rules must be followed and follow the school's risk management procedures.
Step 19. Support your colleagues and superiors
Do what you say. Put the interests of the institution before yours. Remember that you are part of a group of professionals who share a common vision and goal.
Step 20. Aim for excellence
Stick to some standards for your students' progress. Praise them when it is appropriate. Stay close to those who need help and look for innovative methodologies to help them improve their grades.
Step 21. Take responsibility for your students' results
As a professional teacher, the grades your students get are reflected in you. Keep this in mind in everything you do.
Step 22. Behave professionally in public
Always support your school if people talk bad about it. Swearing or being drunk in public will detract from the community's respect for both you and the category in general.
Step 23. Keep abreast of school policy and legislation
Step 24. Always search for new discoveries and share them with your students
Take refresher courses to keep yourself active. The enthusiasm for your subject will be rewarded by a greater interest and enthusiasm for it on the part of the students.
Step 25. Simplify your lessons:
good teachers make difficult things simple. Use examples, models, illustrations and photographs. When explaining the lesson try to refer to examples that students can relate to.
Step 26. Attract the attention of students
Explain to your students why the knowledge you pass on is important and how it can be applied in everyday life. That way they will be more likely to remember what you teach.
