Making Mistakes: Humility v. Confidence

While teaching, many teachers make mistakes. However, as a teacher, one should be confident as well. When a teacher makes a mistake, where does he or she draw the line between confidence and humility? When a teacher makes a mistake, he or she needs to be honest with their students. However one should not teach something confidently if he or she is unsure about their content. To prevent this situation from occurring, a teacher can be better prepared in his or her content area. Regardless, a teacher will make a mistake. If the mistake is regarding content, the teacher should admit his or her mistake to their students. The teacher should follow up and provide their students with correct content as soon as possible. To an extent this situation presents humility, because the teacher does not care how they are viewed. They truly care about the content and information the students learn. They want to be sure that what they teach is accurate.

Colaborativeness

A highly effective team means that each individual within the group must have the same goal. It’s important to have the same goal in order to have cohesive interest in the group and their activities. For example, in a high school setting, if 3 out 4 people in a string quartet participated because they really wanted to make beautiful music and 1 person was involved in the group because he/she was told to do so by their parents, the group goal is not the same. The goal of the 3 would be to enjoy and make beautiful music, meaning they are more likely to care and practice the music. However the 1 out of the 4 might have a goal to do whatever their parents say to satisfy them. This one person is less likely to practice their music and care about the ensemble as a whole. This one person can throw off the effectiveness of the entire ensemble. Also a highly effective team needs to be well organized. Meaning, that work among the group, work is equally divided. Every person should have his or her specific role within the group in order to achieve the big picture. Colaborativeness is not exactly like cooperative learning. In cooperative learning the students learn more effectively when they teach and help each other. Yet collaboration is different because students need to pull their own weight. With cooperative learning there is a different sense of responsibility. For example if a student taught another student how to correctly speak a rhythm. The learning on behalf of the student’s “student” can be affected by the student’s content knowledge, attitude or teaching style. Therefore if the “student” learns something wrong, it is not the responsibility of the “student.”

Efficacy: Components Needed to be a Teacher

As a population, we are all very different. We have different attributes that set one person apart from another. For example, one person may be naturally quirky or naturally funny. As teachers, these different attributes contribute to beliefs and teaching styles. However, no matter the personality, good teachers need to have self-awareness, confidence, persistence, and a good work ethic.
Self awareness is especially applicable to new teachers, as well as old teachers. New teachers constantly need to test their knowledge and skills. For example, a new teacher might try different teaching styles and monitor themselves based on their result. Also a new teacher as well old teachers need to monitor what he or she says and how they say it. For example if music teacher wants their music student to crescendo one wouldn't say "can you crescendo for me?" Instead, the teacher might ask the student "what do you need to do in this measure?" The first question is not really a question. Whereas, the second question leads the student to solve the problem for themselves. Speech and language are vital to teaching therefore it is important that a teacher be clear with their students.
Teachers need to be confident as well as clear when he or she talks to their student. If a teacher were to teach something without confidence, the students will not feel confident either. It's the job of the teacher to know what to do when students can't learn things by themselves. Also if a teacher is not confident, the students may feel that the teacher doesn't know the subject area very well. The teacher needs to have confidence in order to keep control and manage their classroom.
One can develop a great amount of knowledge with a good work ethic. A good work ethic can be defined as a belief to work efficiently and effectively. This idea can be applied to a teacher too. For example, an orchestra teacher (conductor) needs to search for problems while the students play. Then, the orchestra would need to address the problem to the students and clearly and effectively state how to fix the student's problem. The teacher needs to have knowledge in their subject area, so they can observe and fix the student's problem. Without great knowledge of a subject area, a teacher would not know what to do. Therefore, the students would not learn much of anything. Also a teacher needs to be persistent. For example, when students do not understand, think of another technique that could help them. A teacher cannot simply give up when their student does not understand something. Otherwise conveys that the teacher sets low standards for themsleves and their students.
One can develop all these skills through experience. Not many people can say they're first year of teaching was easy. One constantly needs to work and improve themselves so he or she can be the best teacher possible for his or her students.