What is a Teacher?

Leticia Crespo
English 101+
October 9, 2008

What is a Teacher?

What is a teacher? Is a teacher just the professor standing in front of you in your college class? The answer is no. Anyone can be a teacher; your mother, a friend, and the person that helped you perfect your golf swing. This can be anyone who you leave knowing something new.
First of all, in order to be a teacher you need a student. Without a student you cannot teach. All the knowledge you have and share will not mean anything if no one is there to learn. Does this mean you have to have students in front of you to teach or know that you have students? Not at all, many people have no idea that they have students. This can be the person who is looking to you as you work hard to get that promotion. Students are essential, but remember that students are everywhere. They may not be in front of you but know that they are there.
What does a teacher do? Well first thing they do is share their knowledge with others. This knowledge includes things you have learned from experience, education, and life. It is endless and doesn’t always have to be complicated but your student is expecting you to know about what you are teaching, “Students expect professors to be… knowledgeable,” (Helterbran). It can be something complex like how to draw hyperbolas or as simple as drawing a smiley face. You may not think what you have to offer is worthy of being considered knowledge but no knowledge is bad knowledge and there is always someone out there in need of it.
A teacher also guides you. Guidance in simple terms is direction, supervision, or influence. It is not enough to just share your knowledge but you must help them understand it, “Students are also sensitive to the schism between a professor's knowledge-base and the ability to get it across to students at the students' level of knowledge and experience,” (Helterbran). Knowledge is not useful unless the student understands it so guidance and direction is important in the process to understanding. This can be explaining and showing how to hold a basketball right in order to achieve a free-throw or explaining how to speak to your parents about a really important problem. Guidance isn’t as complicated as many think. Be confident in your knowledge and it will be easy to help and guide another.
The last important part of being a teacher is the ability to answer questions. Many people will not always get something quickly just from your guidance and explanations. “Students are also keenly interested in having… questions answered,” (Helterbran). Many students will need to ask question in order to fully understand something and if you are unable to answer these questions the student will never be able to fully understand. This is why answering questions is important. The student has the puzzle almost finished and they just need that last piece, your answers, to help them finish it.
These three things are the most important factors in order to be a teacher. You must have all three or your student may not fully understand what you are trying to teach. These three things are not hard to do and when done, you will be just as great as the people who taught you everything that got you to where you are today. You may not even realize some of the teachers in your life; the person that taught you how to ride a bike, to open your locker, to act during a job interview, or how to handle a relationship. All these people were teachers and now it’s your turn to do the same.

References
Helterbran, Valeri R. "The ideal professor: student perceptions of effective instructor practices, attitudes, and skills.(Report)." Education 129.1 (Fall 2008): 125(14). General OneFile. Gale. Fitchburg Public Library. 14 Oct. 2008
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