Qualities of Effective Teachers

Introduction:

Effective teacher’s have the ability to motivate and inspire students to want to actively participate in learning. Motivation energizes, guides, and prolongs behaviour, it gets people going, guides them in a particular direction, and keeps them going (McDevitt and Ormrod, 2010, p. 482). Motivation has been defined as the level of effort an individual is willing to expend toward the achievement of a certain goal. Virtually all children and adolescents are motivated in one way or another. Whilst in the class room it is up to the teacher to accommodate for students differing motivational influences. The teacher’s responsibility is to provide an environment that enhances students’ motivation to pursue academic goals actively over a long period of time.

A teacher is as effective as the plan they undertake to teach and learn. In determining what constitutes an effective teacher specific consideration should be given to various areas that encompass effective teaching and learning such as knowledge of child development, planning, teaching and learning strategies and knowledge of Curriculum content.

Teaching and Learning Strategies: Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation:

There are two main motivational influences intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation can encourage children to attain new knowledge and skills and engage in productive behaviours (McDevitt and Ormrod, 2010, p. 482). The goal of an effective teacher would be to have all students motivated intrinsically so students don’t develop a reliance on extrinsic factors to be motivated. Most students rely on extrinsic motivation to begin with. It is up to the teacher to work to develop, encourage and maintain intrinsic motivation in ...

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