How do you make a teacher?

Yesterday a guy in a class I am in said I looked like a teacher. Well, there is a good reason for that, I am a teacher. I have a teaching license and have experience in teaching. I know the struggles and joys of being a teacher, because I have been there. I know the theories and models of teaching and various situations in which they are appropriate because I have studied them and used them in a practical setting. When I am sitting in classes, I often wonder on how to make them better by changing the presentation or the curriculum. How the assessments designed or gauging the level of teacher-student interaction. What does it take the make a teacher?

A teacher must know their subject. You cannot teach if you do not know. But they must be more than just a subject matter expert. It is not enough for the teacher to just know the material for their job is not to know but to teach.

The teacher must also understand the student. They must know their life desires. What motivates them. What their life is like and how their situation affects their learning. What expectations they have. What they already know. What they have learned. You must know the student to teach him.

A teacher must understand how to teach. They have the information that the student needs, but they must find how to deliver the material to the student in a practical and successful manner. They must know when to push the student and when to pull the student. When to teach the student and when to let the student learn. When to encourage the student and when to walk away from the student.

The teacher must care about the student. They must have a desires to see the student succeed. They must want the student to learn. They are to be an example, a role model for the student. Someone to be respected and someone who respects. Someone who will defend the integrity of the student.

A teacher cannot be a book. A teacher is alive and interacts with the student. A teacher is more than just someone with a inflection in their voice. It is the most noblest of professions and must be approached as such.