Whether you are teaching kindergarten kids, high school students, or adults in college, you will need to have some strong teaching skills. Being a teacher is one of the most important and often difficult jobs out there, which is why teaching skills are so helpful. To be the best teacher you can be, you’ll want to master at least a few teaching skills.
Are teaching skills really so different from regular job skills? Yes and no. Many skills are versatile for all jobs while others are unique to teaching. Keep reading to find out more about what that means and how it affects you as a teacher.
What Are Teaching Skills and Why Do You Need Them?
Teaching skills make up the skill set unique to those who want to become teachers. While many skills included in a great teacher’s skill set can apply to other occupations, there are many unique to work that involves teaching, learning, and children. Learning how to become a teacher involves learning this skill set as it is vital to your success.
Assuming you plan to work as an educator of any sort, you will need to acquire some of the teaching skills listed below. Especially for those who intend to work with children and teenagers, having these top teaching skills can make or break your career.
Top Teaching Skills
Time Management
School teachers are busy people who spend a large portion of their workday creating lesson plans and class schedules. Being able to manage your time is extremely important for ensuring your students can complete their education requirements on time, and so you can relax when you get off work at the end of the day.
Many teachers end up bringing their work home, whether it be assignments to grade or lesson plans to catch up on. While it isn’t ideal for most people to continue working off the clock, it can be an unfortunate necessity. This is where time management comes into play in helping you set up your schedule and make time for yourself.
Communication Skills
Communication is the driving force behind teaching and learning. If teachers cannot communicate in a way that creates a healthy learning environment, it will be difficult to keep students engaged. Knowing how to communicate with all different types of personalities and age groups is essential in this career field.
People communicate in many ways other than verbally, and with classrooms full of students, it is important to keep that in mind. For example, there may be times when the best way to convey your frustration at a disruptive class is through body language rather than words. Sometimes, a simple frown and crossed arms can do the trick better than anything you can say.
Patience
Whether you end up working in an elementary school or high school, you will still work with children. It is important to remember that even in secondary schooling, your students are still children and patience is needed. Students can be frustrating to deal with sometimes, and it will often be easier to walk away instead of solving the problem, but having patience is key.
Many teachers deal with problems from young children having petty arguments to high school students behaving poorly in class. Having patience is a great skill to not only help resolve any situation but also to help reduce your own stress.
Creativity
A great teacher uses their creativity to enhance the learning experience and help students learn. Kids are typically very imaginative and want to have fun in the classroom, and by coming up with creative assignments and learning exercises, you can establish yourself as an awesome teacher.
It can also take some creative skills to solve many of the problems teachers face. For example, when trying to determine the best way to work with special needs students, a teacher may have to come up with creative solutions to address their specific needs without making them feel like outsiders.
Understanding of Different Types of Learners
The most effective teachers understand that there are different types of learning styles and adapt their teaching to best meet them all. Certain students working on assignments may struggle more than others depending on the format of the assignment and how directions were given to them, and effective teachers understand that.
By taking the time to educate yourself about the different types of learners and help your students understand their own learning needs, you are setting yourself up to be one of the best teachers out there. It may be difficult to accommodate every individual students’ needs, but determining their learning type is a great start.
Conflict Resolution
Finally, good teachers have to learn conflict resolution skills. If a group of students ends up arguing and fighting, it is often up to teachers to intervene and help resolve the conflict. By developing good conflict resolution skills, you will be able to prevent tensions from rising in your classroom and help keep everyone friendly.
Many teachers forget how important it is to not only possess this skill but to also understand how to pass it down to their students. A good teacher can help resolve their students’ conflicts and guide them toward the development of their own conflict resolution skills.
Do You Need Teaching Skills?
Many teachers overlook teaching skills and assume their teaching certification will be good enough, and this is where they struggle. While some people are inherently good at teaching, most will need to learn the above-listed skills to become great at it.
If you intend to work as any sort of teacher or educator, you will definitely want to brush up on your teaching skills. Working with young children, adolescents, and even adults in an academic environment can be challenging and rewarding.
Arming yourself with these teaching skills is the best way to enjoy your career and become the best teacher you can be.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
