How Many Years Does It Take To Become a Good Teacher?

As a teacher, you can make a difference in a young student’s life, both personally and professionally. However, not all teachers possess the charisma and positive influence they need to become good teachers. And you might wonder what traits define a good teacher and how many years it takes to be considered one.

To become a good teacher, it can take as little as two years or as many as ten years or more. It all depends on the teacher’s mindset and abilities. Teachers can increase their listening and communication skills and focus on self-improvement to become good teachers.

The rest of this article will explore everything you need to become a good teacher. Keep reading to learn more.

Table of Contents

Everything You Need To Become a Good Teacher

Several factors influence the amount of time and effort it takes for you to become a good teacher. Let’s explore these factors below.

Holding a Bachelor’s Degree

Before becoming a teacher, you must hold a bachelor’s degree from a college or university. It takes at least four years to complete it, and if you intend to be a teacher from the start, you may consider pursuing an education-related degree such as elementary or secondary education.

However, if you completed a bachelor’s degree apart from education-related programs because you didn’t see yourself becoming a teacher, you’ll have to meet other requirements. You might be asked to take teacher preparation programs and student teaching practice, as it’s a requirement in most states before being certified as a teacher.

Student Teaching

Student teaching typically takes a semester or two to complete, depending on your program and the state’s requirements. Usually, your college or university can help you find a school in your area where you can do your student teaching.

The tasks involved in this practice include:

Lesson planning

Lesson delivery
Creation of worksheets or handouts
Creation of tests for student assessment

Assessment of student work
Conducting parent-teacher conferences

You will be guided by an experienced teacher who will serve as your mentor throughout the practice and provide feedback on your performance. Your tasks will gradually increase until you take full responsibility for running a class independently.

Your college or university will also assign a supervisor who will observe how you perform as a student teacher and will be the one to grade you based on their observations and the feedback from your mentor teacher.

Obtaining a Teaching License or Certification

After earning your bachelor’s degree and completing your student teaching practice, you can get a teaching certification or license in the state you wish to teach. You must prepare for the required certification tests for teachers, which may include ETS’ Praxis or Pearson’s National Evaluation Series.

Each state has pre-requisite requirements, so you’ll want to contact your state’s education department. You’ll need to take at least two exams for the certification to test your general knowledge and your knowledge of the subject you wish to teach.

To learn more about the strategies aspiring teachers can follow to prepare for their teaching certification test, here’s a YouTube video from 240 Tutoring featuring Dr. Kristy Mulkey:

If you’re already a certified teacher in one state but have to move to another and wish to teach there, it’s possible to transfer your certification if the two states have reciprocity agreements. However, you must still obtain the state’s license according to its requirements.

Earning a Master’s Degree

Once you’ve earned your teaching certification and experience as a certified teacher, you can expand and deepen your knowledge by earning a master’s degree in the subject you wish to specialize in.

Anyone can complete a master’s degree within two years, but it can take longer than expected if you have other responsibilities to juggle. Some states require teachers to finish their master’s degree within a certain period after they have earned their certification or license.

Maintaining Tenure Status

Public elementary school teachers may be required to maintain a specific performance rating to gain teacher tenure status. The parameters for evaluating teacher performance may vary from one state to another, but it usually involves learning benchmarks.

Some states may temporarily strip teachers of tenure if they fail to satisfactorily meet the evaluations. To learn more about attaining tenure, you can read my article: How Hard Is It To Get Tenure as a Teacher?

Developing the Right Attitude

Apart from acquiring the professional qualifications to become a teacher, one must foster the right attitude to become a good teacher. Many teachers possess all the necessary qualifications but lack the empathy, patience, and charisma to be considered good teachers.

On the other hand, some teachers have minimal tenure and are still obtaining certification, but they have a camaraderie with their students. They listen attentively, encourage growth, and inspire their students.

One can argue that having the right mindset and attitude is the fine line between becoming a teacher and becoming a good teacher.

Tips To Become a Good Teacher

After all the education, training, and certification they have received, many teachers, whether new to the sector or those that have spent decades teaching young children, are constantly confronted with the question, “How do I become a good teacher?”

There is no definitive answer to this question because one teacher’s experience in a classroom does not equate to another teacher’s experience in another classroom. No matter how long the teacher has served, some feel good and confident about their work, while others think they are still lacking.

After all, teachers deal with different sets of young children with varying backgrounds, thoughts, feelings, and needs every school year. Despite that, there are several tips teachers can practice over time to feel comfortable and proficient in what they do in the classroom.

Be Adaptable

No matter how much you plan for lessons or activities, there will be unexpected incidents. It could be a snow day or a personal issue that hinders your ability to attend class. It’s also possible that your students did not understand a previous lesson, so you’ll have to dedicate an extra lesson reviewing the content again.

In such cases, teachers must adapt and be flexible, which will lessen their frustration and make them more comfortable with change. A study conducted in Australia revealed that teachers who adapt to their situation avoid disengagement from their job and have improved well-being and job retention.

Have Strong Communication Skills

Teachers must have strong communication skills to deliver learning content to their students effectively. If a teacher fails to do this, students will become confused and disengaged in the lesson, leading to poor performance.

Teachers must also communicate positively with their students to make them feel valued and motivated. A child can be greatly affected by the words, tone, and expression a teacher uses. Unfavorable communication is not going to make you a popular teacher with your students.

Strong communication skills also help teachers effectively convey their feedback to stakeholders, including parents and school administrators, to ensure students get the appropriate support they need to facilitate their learning.

Develop Good Listening Skills

While teachers need to have strong communication skills, it’s also crucial for them to develop good listening skills.

Listening attentively to the thoughts of students can help facilitate learning. By making students feel part of the discussion, a teacher can empower and motivate students. This also helps teachers understand different perspectives from their students through their conversations.

Additionally, active listening helps teachers provide the appropriate support their students need whenever they express concerns about school work or domestic matters.

Good listening skills are also essential when engaging with colleagues and school administrators. You can learn a great deal from other educators just by paying attention to what they have to say. For example, feedback from a lesson observation is intended to improve your teaching practice – but only if you listen and take on board the advice.

Practice Empathy

Besides good listening skills, becoming a good teacher requires empathy toward your students.

There will be students lagging behind their peers in terms of academics. Also, some students will have issues complying with the school’s rules and regulations.

Teachers need to be patient with them and avoid rendering judgment outright.

They must recognize what’s happening in their students’ lives and maintain a positive attitude toward them to understand their behavior in the classroom. This helps them identify the correct approach for their students to facilitate learning effectively and provide much-needed support.

A teacher that shows empathy and patience is very likely to be seen as a good teacher in the eyes of their students.

Be Open to Self-Improvement

Teachers must be open to improving themselves for the better. Repetitive tasks can make anyone, including teachers, bored with their work, so introducing something new in their job can help raise their morale and motivation.

It could be listening to a podcast about useful teaching ideas and practices. I would recommend the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast with Cool Cat Teacher.

Some attend seminars and lectures related to education and classroom management. Others pursue a master’s degree to deepen their knowledge of the subject they have expertise in or are currently teaching.

Some teachers also hone their communication skills further to enhance the delivery of their lessons to their students so it doesn’t sound uninteresting or outdated. Teachers can also do in-depth research on the lessons they teach at school to see if there are things they can update.

Additionally, teachers can benefit from discovering something new about educational technology.

Newly-certified teachers may have been using educational technology since their student practice days. More experienced teachers can benefit from this and improve their way of delivering lessons to their students who are, one way or another, well-versed in using devices and apps for their school work.

All of these methods would be beneficial for any teacher wanting to improve their skills in the classroom. Education is a continuous process, and in order to be considered a good teacher, one must be open to continually learning and improving.

Final Thoughts

It takes significant time and effort to become a good teacher. There is no definite time for you to be considered a good teacher. Some teachers can be regarded as good quickly, while others take longer than expected. What’s important is that they strive to improve every day.

From earning their bachelor’s degree to maintaining tenure to developing the right attitude, teachers must keep improving by learning new things to help them deliver their lessons and manage their students in the classroom.

Sources

AllEducationSchools.com: What Student Teaching Is Like