Teaching is considered one of the noblest of all professions as it directly encourages, motivates, and impacts the future of a country and the world. It gives a direction to the formation of a new society. It formulates the thinking in young minds, enabling them towards the evolution of the human species. A teacher is responsible for bridging the gap between the past and the future by nurturing the present.

However, with an education system, school administration, and fixed curriculum in place, sometimes the teachers feel restricted in their teaching and limited under the burden of a hectic and exhausting schedule. Moreover, with human tendencies in place, teachers find it challenging to cater to individualistic growth and learning in their students.

Here are some rules of great teaching that a teacher can keep in mind or remind themselves of again from time to time so that they don’t get distracted from or exhausted from the big responsibility they hold towards servicing and uplifting the community.

1.      Start small.

Teaching is a long marathon. Don’t exhaust your passion and spirit at the beginning itself. It is not a small race to win.

2.      You don’t have to do standard planning.

There are dozens of ways to plan the content you have to teach. Even in a given curriculum, you can find creative methods to put across and experiment with the content depending on the pace of understanding and learning of your students.

3.      Be interesting.

A teacher is also a presenter and grabbing a hold onto your students’ attention is the first basic step to ensure that they are learning the concepts. Be unpredictable, and find different ways to connect with your students.

4.      There is no one way.

With whatever challenges and problems you face, there is no one solution to it. It depends a lot on the task, the students, and the mood of the day.

5.      Teaching is always changing.

Stay up-to-date on technology, curriculum, assessment, value system, and market demands as they never remain the same and are ever-evolving with the development at the national and the global levels.

6.      It’s not about you.

Remember that it is not about you, it is about your students. Having students who ask questions frequently, or are always ready with the answers, or maybe have more knowledge on a subject than you have, do not take it on your ego.

7.      Trust the people around.

Be it parents, other teachers or colleagues, or students, trust them. There is never one reason to trust them. But don’t take too much over your shoulders, don’t be a controller all the time, and don’t think you can’t ask for help or their opinion.

8.      Be concise.

Don’t confuse the students with your explanations and don’t beat around the bush. Stay simple and concise. Sometimes less is more. If a paragraph can be explained in one single line, or a chapter in one single paragraph, do that. It will help the students grasp the concept better.

9.      Master your content.

When you love and master the content that you are teaching, it will make it easier for your students to an imaginable extent. Moreover, it also develops an interest in your students for the subject you are teaching.

10.  Curiosity is everything.

This is also one easy method to evaluate and monitor your teaching. If you are making your students curious about a concept or even towards the whole subject, that means you have succeeded in triggering their mind and have made the knowledge thought-provoking.

11.  Be their cheerleader.

Acknowledge their progress, appreciate their efforts, and encourage their spirit to succeed and work hard. When you point out their positives, they feel good about it and seek your attention to all the good and smart work they have been putting into their shelves.

12.  Expansion of learning.

Extend their learning outside of the classroom. Make them notice things in the outside world and help them in connecting the ideas and concepts from real life. Make your teaching more realistic, more connected with their lives, so they may start noticing the existence of knowledge around them.