Top 5 Qualities of a Great Teacher

top 5I’ve recently been looking at all the blogs and articles out there about the qualities of a great teacher. The lists are endless! Sometimes, I think these authors should just narrow their lists down to “Be Superhuman,” because that’s what they’re really saying! You should be able to do everything in the face of all the obstacles. (And we know there are obstacles.) So here is my revised list for teachers who are also real people. I’ve also knocked the lists of 20 items down to five, because reading a list of 20 things you need to be is ridiculous.

Kim’s Top 5 List of the Qualities of a Great Teacher

  1. A passion for children and teaching (This is pretty key in my book.)
  2. A sense of humor (*See my story below.)
  3. Classroom management skills (Without these you’ll start having nightmares about your job.)
  4. Creativity (Engaging students in a lesson takes a creative mind and a certain disregard for looking silly.)
  5. The ability to balance your job and your personal life. (It’s easy to let this job take over your whole life. Don’t let it.)

*My first teaching job was in kindergarten in a Catholic school. The first week, I had to take my kids to mass with the rest of the school. Fortunately, my little ones had fifth-grade buddies, so we sat in an AB pattern, alternating between kindergartners and fifth graders. Unfortunately, we were in the very front of the church. One of my students—a little girl who had large dark-rimmed glasses and a love of extremely fussy hair ornaments—was sitting at the end of a pew. Unbeknownst to me, throughout the entire mass she was turned around in her seat, staring at the rest of the  students. She had removed her glasses and was slowly and methodically sticking one earpiece in and out of her nose, pausing to see what she had fished out. Really, what else can you do but laugh when your principal tells you this!


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