Characteristics of Great Teachers

If you want to be used – MAKE YOURSELF TRULY AVAILABLE. Some people say, “God, if you want me to do something, lay it upon my pastor’s heart. Have him come to me and ask me to do it.”  That’s crazy!  Don’t wait for God, the pastor or the superintendent to ask you to do things. Offer your help and THEN make sure you are there to help the second it is needed. You should almost make it appear like, ‘they are going to get my help whether they want it or not.’

  • THEY HAVE PASSION
    • One definition of passion is: when you put more energy, thought, and intensity into your pursuit than is required
  • THEY DO WHAT THEY NEED TO DO (NO MATTER WHAT)
    • “Successful people do what they know they are supposed to do, whether they felt like it or not”
  • THEY HAVE A VISION – THEY SET GOALS
  • THEY ARE ON TIME (EARLY)
    • A teacher is always early and is in their class at least 15-30 minutes before the first kids start arriving.
    • Make sure your room is neat and clean before class time because you never know who has borrowed something from the room or used the room for some other purpose.
    • Don’t ever let the kids see you setting up the class unless they are there ridiculously early
    • Setup the night before if you can: You will usually forget something. If you do it the night before you can still bring what you forgot the next morning
  • THEY ARE CONSISTENT, RELIABLE AND DEPENDABLE
    • Find substitutes AHEAD of when you need them so when you cannot be there, you already have someone lined up. Don’t just text the Sunday School superintendent that you can’t make it but instead send them the name of the person already in place to cover for you. Make sure ahead of time that they are approved by the pastor and Sunday School director.
    • Never make it guesswork as to whether you are going to be there or not.
  • THEY ARE BETTER THAN EXPECTED
    • If you get assigned to do something, do it FAR BETTER than expected. Don’t just get by. If you are assigned a game, make it the best game you can and make it tie into the main lesson theme. If you are doing the lesson spend the time needed, prepare ahead of time and make it memorable.
  • THEY ARE NOT AFRAID OF HARD WORK
    • A teacher cannot be afraid of hard work. You must understand that teaching is more than one hour a week and will take many hours of preparation, prayer, and visitation to make the class what God would have it to be.
  • THEY PLAN AHEAD
    • Don’t start planning on Saturday night but start right after Sunday school is over and everything is fresh on your mind. If you wait until later in the week you will forget much of what happened.
    • A well-prepared lesson will correct MANY discipline problems!
    • There is such a difference in the behavior of your classroom from when you are confidently prepared and have prayed for your class as opposed to when you sketchily put something together at the last minute and come in bringing your leftovers. It is not only about how you feel, it is the blessings of God on your class. The kids are somehow able to pick up that you are truly ready to teach and have taken the time to get ready for them.
    • I have found that even if I gave a subpar teaching performance that if I was prepared somehow the class still went smoothly. Every mistake somehow turned into something good with the kids paying more attention and responding better than when I may have even performed better with less preparation.
    • Do not underestimate God’s blessing on you and your class when you put the time in preparation.
    • A great teacher sets a schedule of events for each Sunday and sticks to it as much as possible allowing of course for God to move.
  • THEY ROUTINELY EVALUATE THEIR PERFORMANCE
    • Each week immediately following your class, evaluate your performance :What did I do well?
      What did I do poorly
      How can I improve next week?
    • Evaluate your attitude and behavior:Did you talk too much?
      Did you seem like a know it all?
      Did you throw your weight around?
      Did you listen courteously?
      Were you rude to others?
      Did you interrupt others?
      Did you laugh at others suggestions?
      Did you hog all the credit for the work of others?
      Did you brag?
  • THEY NEVER KNOW IT ALL
  • THEY NEVER HAVE A “JUST GET BY” SUNDAY
    • Often a teacher will think, “I know this lesson” and consequently will not prepare. Don’t let this happen to you! You may only get one shot at some of these kids.
  • THEY ARE GOOD ROLE MODELS
  • THEY GET TO KNOW THE KIDS
    • Learn names – We started using nametags and it made a big difference. Now, each of the teachers can call on a child by name instead of just pointing at them or identifying them by perhaps the color of their shirt or some other equally ineffective method. We use our attendance software to generate a list of names of all of the kids that have attended in the last three weeks and use that list to make our nametags.
    • Talk to them, find out about them, ask them how they are doing and LISTEN AND REACT
  • THEY ARE EXCITING
  • THEY ARE CREATIVE
  • THEY ARE ENTHUSIASTIC
  • THEY ARE FUN
  • THEY KEEP THINGS FRESH
  • THEY ARE NOT BORING
  • THEY MAKE THEIR CLASS OR BUS LOOK EXCITING
  • THEY THINK BIG
  • THEY DO OUTREACH
  • THEY DO FOLLOW-UP
  • THEY CREATE A TIME FOR GOD TO MOVE EVERY WEEK
  • THEY REACH INTO THE HOME
  • THEY ANTICIPATE AND ARE PREPARED FOR PROBLEMS
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