Becoming an Effective Early Childhood Teacher

What separates a good teacher from a great Teacher? “First and foremost a teacher must love working with children. No matter how well you teach, there is always room for Improvement ” (Killen,2009.p.100) .In this Essay I hope to show some of the key attributes, that I consider essential to becoming an effective early childhood teacher. Those key aspects are communication, building lasting relationships, engaging students effectively in the learning process, and encouraging and appreciating diversity in the classroom.

After spending some time reading about effective teaching, I found that one of the key aspects that seemed to come up most was communication. I believe that as a teacher you will need to have a range of communication, interpersonal and group skills. Communication is not just about being able to speak with your students , but also include writing, reading, listening with your eyes and ears, and also body language.( Ornstein, Lasley ,2004) For effective communication a teacher must interact and communicate respect , there should always be respect for the students, Parents, Colleague’s and their network of educational professionals . I feel that listening deeply and giving credit for the student’s contributions will encourage respect from the students, a great example of this can be seen in the (Online course: Becoming a Teacher,2005). The Teacher’s Name is Anne Christodulou, and the communication with her students is continuous, respectful, shows a caring attitude, and provides a model of high ethical standards. Coulson (cited in Killen, 2009) describes: “Effective communicators as teachers that will relate well with students, explain clearly, make their expectations explicit, and engage the students.” I be...

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