An Ideal Teacher
Teaching is not just a profession—it is a vocation. A teacher is like a potter, the students his clay and he has the power to make or mar a person placed in his hands.
An ideal teacher should be lively and attractive. Even plain-looking people can have great personal charm. The overbearing, excitable and cynical are very often disliked as teachers. Bores and bullies should be a taboo in the classroom. A good teacher must be sensitive, with a genuine capacity to tune into the minds and feelings of the pupils. He or she, must be tolerant, not necessarily of the wrong but of the mistakes the pupils make because they are immature and still learning.
He or she may not be a plaster saint, but certainly be honest about the his intellectual limitations and must never hesitate to admit candidly that he does not know the answer. A teacher should probably be a bit of an actor, who can improvise to make a boring lesson interesting or to enliven the atmosphere in a classroom. He or she must update himself or herself on the latest happenings to prevent stagnation.
A teacher is a guide. He or she must be an anchor to the pupil-whenever the need arises. He or she should be capable of providing emotional support whenever needed. A teacher is a surrogate parent to many who are unable to place their trust in their parents or others. A teacher must be resilient, for teaching is a demanding profession that drains a person emotionally and mentally.
A good teacher must prize originality and creativity and have an open Mind. He or she should be receptive to new ideas, and alert to new developments.
Last but not least, a teacher must practice what he preaches—he must live up to the standards he demands of the students. According to Mahatma Gandhi:-
“Woe to a teacher who teaches one thing with his lips, and carries another in his heart”.
