On Learning: Outstanding Educator

The most important qualities of an outstanding educator:

Outstanding educators make teaching and learning a lifestyle. Through active pursuit of such a lifestyle, the teacher becomes a strong and positive figure in the student's personal and academic life. Guided by a passion for helping others learn, the outstanding educator makes his or her mark by sacrificing personal time and providing extra effort in the classroom for each student, even when extra effort may not be warranted by others.

Through continual professional development and creating personal, long-lasting relationships with their students, the best teachers sacrifice personal time and effort to enrich the lives of their students. Teachers that are willing to spend extra evenings and weekends learning through reading, exploring, and taking courses. It is through continual education that the best teachers begin to understand the fine nuances of the world and wish to share that understanding with others. These well-educated instructors also understand that taking extra time to develop personal relationships with parents and students will help create an enriching environment based on mutual respect.

Such a personal sacrifice is not in vain for the extraordinary educator. For it is through a well-rounded education and strong personal relationships with his students that the teacher can bring action and life to the common educational experience. Through well-planned lessons, the teacher breathes life into the learning experience and engages the learner. Each lesson, taught on the backbone of the formed teacher-student relationship, provides and encourages students to share their feelings, thoughts, and observations. Nevertheless, the lesson is not over. Constant self and student evaluation provide feedback that is used to make improvements in the teaching and learning process so learning can continue.

As a future teacher in the public school system, I pledge that I will try my best to become an outstanding educator through personal sacrifice of my time and effort in and out of the classroom. I will continue to create personal learning experiences and will display my newfound knowledge and skills in the classroom. Furthermore, I will spend extra time writing letters to students and making phone calls to their homes to foster a personal relationship with each learner. Within the confines of the physical classroom, I will create lessons based on student experiences that will be actively engage each student in the learning process. I understand that outstanding teachers make teaching and learning their lifestyle and wish to make outstanding education my lifestyle as well.