In every profession there is an opportunity to improve what you do and it is important that throughout your career, whatever it may be, that you look for ways to change and adapt as you move through your profession. Today we are going to look into the World of teaching and how you can improve the already great work that you are doing so that you can better lead and teacher the children whom you are charged with educating.

Being a better teacher is i everyone’s grasp, even if you already consider yourself to be a strong teacher. We spoke to Peter Benedict St Andrews headmaster to see what he thought teachers could do to improve.

Flexibility

Each teacher has their own style of teaching but it is important that your style is flexible and can be adapted to different types of learners. Not everyone learns in the same way as the next person and it is for this reason that you need to ensure that not only do you have a style which works well for the majority, but also that you can adapt how you teach to make sure that you can also connect with the minority.

Strong Ground Rules

Not every student is a model pupil and whilst you should never been draconian in your teaching methods, it is vital that you command discipline and respect in the classroom. Much of this discipline can be enforced from day one of the new term with some ground rules of the classroom. Put the rules up on the wall and ensure that everyone knows what they are and understands the consequences. When it comes to disciplining people who do not follow the rules, you need to ensure that your punishments are fair, fully explained and that you are consistent with every pupil. A discipline should hit the students where it hurts, not permitting them to enjoy some fun in the classroom for example, simply shouting or putting them out of class is unlikely to help them to learn.

Watching Others

There is a great amount of skills that can be gained from watching other teachers and you should try your best to sit in on a class or two of a colleague to see if there are any skills that you can pick up from them. Don’t have believe that you are the finished article when it comes to teaching, there is always something that you can learn or improve upon and watching others can show you this.

Seek Feedback

I order to improve your teaching ability you should be constantly seeking feedback from peers, parents and in some cases, even students. It can be easy to think that your way is the right way but if you can have the humility to accept that you have weaknesses then you can work on them and become a far better teacher. To find out what your weaknesses are, seek regular feedback.