18 Must-Have Skills for Teachers

Are You Fit to be a Teacher?

In an assignment for student teaching, I was to write about the skills and characteristics teachers must possess. I actually enjoyed writing it, and it showed me how much I have learned and grown during the past couple years of school and field experience. I was amazed at all the skills I so easily thought of! Are there any you would add? Disagree with?

Teaching requires many special skills, and during the day, a teacher can wear many hats in addition to just educating the students in her class:

1.      Empathy and social-emotional support: A teacher also assumes some responsibility for ensuring students have a sense of community in the class, are making friends, and feel safe and cared for. Students need to view their teacher as someone they can trust, who cares about them, and will listen to their problems.

2.      Creativity: Whether it is working with time constraints, dealing with limited resources, or dreaming up lesson plans to reach her students, a teacher must have a creative streak. Especially in primary, the ability to design activities, worksheets, teaching aids, posters, bulletin boards, anchor charts, and PowerPoints is key. Incorporating different modalities and learning styles requires creativity, too. A teacher must be able to explain a topic or present material in various ways to accommodate students with disabilities or other learning needs.

3.      Authoritative voice: Teachers need to be able to speak firmly and loudly when appropriate. They must demand respect of the classroom, but in a kind way.

4.      Organization and planning: With so much going on and so many students, it is important to stay organized. There are papers to correct, report cards to complete, school activities and functions, field trip forms, makeup work for kids who were absent, and many teaching aids and materials that need attention. Teachers should be able to anticipate situations, student reactions and responses, and plan ahead for them. You always need backup games, activities or lessons just in case something doesn’t go as planned.

5.      Teamwork and collaboration: In order to be an effective teacher, you have to work well with others. This means listening to ideas, sharing your own, and coming up with creative solutions with your department or other teachers at the same grade level. Teachers must be available to others to bounce ideas off of, share research, and strategies that work. You should be open-minded and easy to get along with if you must sit down with a group to plan regularly.

6.      Advocacy: Especially with students who come from low-income families, teachers must have a sense of justice and advocating for what is right. Whether it’s advocating for resources like money for certain projects, grants for more technology, or going on field trips, they must be able to speak up so students get the care they need. Teachers should also advocate for themselves—whether it’s taking care of their salary, ability to move into leadership positions, vacation or sick time, or attending conferences and professional development, teachers must ask for these things as they are not always readily provided. Teachers must care for themselves and their families so they can better care for their classrooms.

7.      Communication: Being in regular communication with parents, the principal and other staff is important because it builds trust. A teacher must be able to give clear instructions for students during a lesson so they can understand.

8.      Thinking on the fly: Just in case something changes during the day, there is an emergency, or a lesson takes a different turn, teachers should have the instinct to teach on the fly. It is helpful to have games, activities and experience in your back pocket.

9.      Flexibility: The ability to adjust or revamp lesson plans at a moment’s notice is desirable. If students aren’t grasping a concept in the way you planned, you must be able to move with them, and at their pace.

10.  Multi-tasking: Multitasking means being able to see all of the classroom at once. While teaching a lesson, the teacher has to gauge student reactions, responses and understanding, while keeping everyone on task. A teacher could be dealing with a discipline issue, and at the same time, remembering she has to contact the parent after school. It could be grading papers while helping her student teacher with a lesson plan.

11.  Entertaining: A teacher must be interesting enough to capture her students’ attention. This could mean role playing as an important historical figure for social studies or making hand gestures so ESL students don’t get lost during the lesson. It also helps to have a sense of humor. A teacher with this characteristic makes content relatable to students, and sees the world through their eyes.

12.  Time management: A teacher must manage her time both with lesson planning and with correction work at home. During the day, a teacher must gauge how long the instruction piece of her lesson will take. She must manage her free periods for work time, collaboration with other teachers, communication with parents and the principal and for meetings.

13.  Work/life balance: If a teacher is to have a lasting career in education, she must make sure she takes time off and practices self-care. She must have a healthy, stable family life to be fully present and available for her students.

14.  Leadership: By setting a good example for her students, a teacher practices perhaps a quiet leadership. Through the way she conducts herself, others will learn values and how to act toward others. Among her colleagues, a teacher should come forth with innovative ideas and solutions. She should boost the morale of her team or department.

15.  Management: This skill includes putting together daily routines like classroom jobs, logistics, and running the day and week’s schedule properly.

16.  Responsibility: Since students’ futures are at stake, teachers must be accountable for the learning in her class. She must ensure the safety and well-being of her students, and for their learning environment.

17.  Problem-solving: A teacher must be able to deal with conflict in a mature way. Many times the principal or other leadership is not available and she must look in herself for answers and seek out resources for herself.

18.  Intelligence: The ability to learn new strategies, programs, and teaching methods will benefit students. She must have a deep understanding of content, especially in her subject area, to be able to answer students’ questions and offer excellent, clear explanations for the way things work.