Nobody wants to invest in a career only to find they aren’t passionate about it, or they lack the traits to be successful in it. Maybe you’re good with kids and you like helping people so you’ve considered becoming a teacher. But what other qualities will you need once you start your career?

Writing for the site Hey Teach! educator Suzanne Capek Tingley shares the traits she has observed to lead to a successful teaching career.

Patience

Part of learning is making mistakes, so you’ll be dealing with seeing a lot of mistakes from students. Do you have the composure to not get frustrated?

Organization

If you like winging it or doing things last minute, you might struggle. Each class will need a lesson plan to guide it.

Optimism

You can’t ever give up on a student. No matter how much they screw up you always have to have hope they will harness their potential to improve.

Listening

You’ll have a lot of kids vying for your time and you have to make sure to give them a chance to be heard when it matters. It’s not all about you and your voice.

Attentiveness

Kids aren’t adults, meaning they will sometimes be disobedient when you’re just trying to teach. Don’t get so caught up in the lesson that you overlook bad behavior.

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Humor

If you take yourself too seriously then your ego will take a bruising around children. You need to be able to laugh at your mistakes.

Storytelling

You didn’t sign up to be a comedian or an actor, but charisma still matters. All that’s keeping those kids’ attention is your ability to work the room.

Roleplaying

This can be literal, such as dressing up as characters for classes of young students. But it can also mean being able to put yourself in the shoes of what your students are dealing with.

Presence

Do you feel comfortable enough raising your voice to be heard over a room of talking kids? You don’t want to be mean, but you also can’t be so meek that you don’t command respect.

Clarity

If you have to explain how to do something step-by-step can you do it in a way others can follow? It’s no good teaching if your directions leave people lost.

If most of these traits sound like you, maybe teaching is something you want to examine. If so, maybe consider a place like Wilmington University. Their College of Education has a variety of programs for undergraduates as well as graduates who are looking to pursue a career in the education profession.

For more information about the importance of each of the traits that were listed, you can read the article from Hey Teach! by clicking here.

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