Characteristics Of A Pre-School Teacher
As a child care teacher, you are responsible for children when they are not with parents. You are ‘sharing in’ but not ‘taking over’ the care of children. The attitudes and personal qualities that make you who you are can make your job pleasant and rewarding.Many personal qualities are important for successful daily living, but a few are especially important for people working with young children.
Humor
Like playing a piano, humor improves with practice. A smile is the best gesture, to make someone feel comfortable. If a very rigid and strict personality is, possessed children don’t open up. As it is rightly said “Laughter is the best medicine”. At times if the teacher laughs and plays with the kids a friendly environment can be generated. Humor does not include making fun and passing comments on any child or teacher.
Imagination
The most creative people have developed the habit of wondering about the things they see. Instead of stopping, they go on to plan what could be done to improve a situation of figure out how to learn more from it.
Personal warmth and thoughtfulness
Doing a favour for someone, paying a well dressed compliment or asking about something that interests another person are actions that put others at ease and make them feel they are important.
Inner stability or Emotional stability
These qualities are shown by being
- Reasonable, independent and capable of planning ahead
- Able to both compete and cooperate
- Able to assert (maintain and defend) yourself when necessary
- Able to gain satisfaction by being helpful to others
- Able to tolerate conflict and frustration and deal them effectively
- Flexible in a variety of situations
- Able to have a realistic knowledge of yourself, your capabilities and limitations, your most frequent needs, your fears and sources of conflict.
Physical fitness
When speaking to children make eye level contact(when culturally appropriate). This means you must squat, kneel or sit on the floor many times a day. This requires physical flexibility and good conditioning.
Research has shown the two characteristics found most often in a physically fit person are:
1. the ability to withstand fatigue for longer periods than the unfit
2. being better able to tolerate emotional stress
As you eat adequate amounts of nutritious food and get the amounts of exercise and sleep your body needs, your general health will improve and your days with children will be more enjoyable.
As a child care teacher, you are important influence in children’s lives. Yourself image is reflected in your work with the children. Your personality and health influence your job effectiveness.