Teaching: The True Art of Patience

Teaching can be a rewarding experience. It is a way to inspire young minds, and encourage thinking. However, a teacher's main asset is patience. A good teacher must remain patient with his or her students at all times. However, that doesn't mean the teacher should let the students get away with whatever they want to. Discipline and fairness must be used as well. A teacher with these qualities is able to understand his or her students and know how to help them succeed. A teacher with little or no patience can easily give up on a troublesome student as a way to avoid the problem. However, in doing this, the main goal of the teacher is lost. If the teacher can't help his or her students, or can't present the class material very well, then that person isn't a teacher at all. Only one who possesses the qualities explained above is capable of being an effective teacher. I am a student martial arts instructor, and I have several students of my own that I teach in a local elementary school. It is a constant struggle to maintain patience during class, as grade school children can be easily distracted, but I must maintain it in order to effectively teach my students. A good teacher will always have a lasting impression on even the most difficult of students, and the fact that they will retain that knowledge is reward itself.