The importance of a teacher should never be underestimated, and the impact they can have on their students’ lives should never be overstated. When you are a teacher, you have infinite possibilities to help the students in your care. You can ensure they achieve their full potential and that they understand not just the lessons you’re teaching them, but life lessons too. If you love working with children and you want to make a huge difference in the world, becoming a teacher could be your calling. Here are the main reasons why this is such an important profession:
Inspiring and Motivating
When you think back to your school days, you’ll probably be able to think of at least one teacher (and more if you’re lucky) who truly inspired you and motivated you to work hard. These were the teachers who clearly enjoyed being in the classroom, and because they loved what they were doing, they made learning much more fun and engaging; they made the lessons easier to understand and remember.
When you become a teacher yourself after studying at Bank Street Graduate School of Education, you then have the chance to inspire and motivate your own students in the same way that your favorite teacher inspired and motivated you. Just this one thing, a teacher who loves teaching, can be all it takes to turn a disinterested learner into someone who finds a subject they enjoy and wants to study it further.
Ensuring Academic Achievement
The main job of a teacher is to ensure their students gain the academic achievements they need to take the next step in life, whatever that might be. Having a good grounding from school means those students can choose what they want to do, rather than being forced into doing something they aren’t so keen on just because of their poor academic record.
A good teacher is able to bring out the best in their students, and that means those students will be more willing to learn and work hard, thus gaining better results. They will be more prepared to pass any tests they need to take, and will generally have a better chance of success in life.
Collaborating With Parents
As much as a teacher might like to do things all on their own, the truth is it is a teacher’s job to collaborate with parents in order to personalize and maximize a child’s learning experience. This means offering ongoing communication with parents and guardians so that all children get the same chance.
Sometimes a teacher is the only one who can truly get through to a student, and sometimes a teacher is the only one who can truly get through to their parents. Being the conduit between the two is crucial in some cases, and it is yet another reason why teachers are important.
Building Future Leaders
Finally, teachers are important because they create tomorrow’s leaders, without which society, the economy, and the world in general would be a poorer place. At school children are faced with difficult decisions, and it is the teacher who helps them that can lead them in one direction or another. Knowing the student in question, understanding the question they have to answer, and offering them the advice they need to hear can help them make good decisions, and this practice will follow them through their lives, making them much better leaders because of it.