Teacher As A Role Model

A teacher is a role model and one of the most important influences in a child’s life besides their parents/guardians, especially in primary years. Moreover, the teacher provides the essential tools for life to prepare a child for a successful future. While teachers help students to learn such as how to read and write, I believe that being a teacher is more than just a facilitator of learning, a teacher must care about the overall well-being of each and every single one of their students. An effective teacher is aware of the individual needs of their students, they understand each student enters the classroom with their own personal backgrounds and so, successful teaching includes planning with a thorough knowledge of students’ learning styles,

So, my role as a teacher is to be open-minded and efficient with using a range of different resources particularly integrating digital technologies in the classroom, therefore, I have to be digitally literate and resourceful. I believe for a teacher to consistently plan and implement effective and engaging teaching and learning in the classroom, the key to achieving this is to be proactive in personal growth. This includes participating in professional development, which involves accomplishing higher professional competence through increasing their knowledge and expanding “their understanding of self, role, context and career” (Whitton et al., 2016, p. 51). According to Bhardwaj and Kumar (2017, p. 237) “effective teachers enjoy their teaching” and I agree that when you are passionate about what you do, your enthusiasm will show in your teaching and be reflected in the students’ learning outcomes. Also, when you care about what you, you do all you can to achieve the best results, thus in this case, a great teacher feels they are accountable of their students’ results (Bhardwaj & Kumar, 2017) because they care for each students’

Good teaching involves treating students equally and knowing they each have something valuable to bring into the classroom, and with that in mind, great teachers provide optimal learning conditions and appropriate programs (Foreman & Arthur-Kelly, 2014). I strongly believe that great teachers aim for an inclusive classroom that successfully facilitates the best learning environment and quality teaching for all students including those with additional needs in regular schools (Foreman & Arthur-Kelly, 2014) and are actively working towards successful inclusion so all students can achieve their best learning outcomes. Although, inclusive education can be challenging, an effective teacher understands the needs and challenges but promotes an attitude that embraces inclusion and sees potential. From my professional experience placement during my studies to become a full-time primary school teacher, I have discovered that embracing inclusion is the key to catering for students with additional needs. It is fundamentally a collaborative process with the school, community, parents, teachers and students, and the class teacher’s role is not only to support individual students’ needs by modifying and adjusting the curriculum but they must play their part in