Characteristics of Effective Teachers

A statement to ponder: "Teaching is counseling and counseling is teaching."

Each role informs the other. Teachers often find themselves dealing not just with the academic but also with the personal concerns of their students. Counselors often find themselves needing instructional skills to assist an individual with desired change.

Teachers use interpersonal skills in the classroom everyday. Some are effective. Some are ineffective at helping students to be successful in both academic and personal goals. None would argue that students' personal and academic needs are intricately related. Students want teachers who are respectful, warm, friendly and understanding, and who genuinely care about them. These teacher qualities enhance students' learning.

Characteristics of Effective Counselors

Effective counselors are those who view themselves as capable of helping others to change by empowering them. They view students as capable of personal growth. Moreover, they have the capacity to understand alternative viewpoints and the worldview of others. They have been specially trained in communication skills and counseling interventions. They are consistent and trustworthy.

Effective counselors also are self-aware. They are keenly aware of their perceptions though they attempt to not allow their perceptions to dominate their interactions with others. Effective counselors attempt to understand and accept a student's viewpoint regardless of the student's behavior. They are respectful of others' realities and are able to differentiate their own realities from those of their students. They understand that they may disclose but never impose their values on their students.

The Teacher/Counselor

Many teachers are naturally helpers. Some teachers can benefit from training in counseling skills and interventions. All teachers can benefit from intentional training in interpersonal skills and counseling methods.

Teachers are busy. They can be annoyed by student's behavior. They can judge student's behavior to be irremediable without careful analysis. They can ignore the relationship between student's personal and academic needs. They can protest that additional training is unnecessary. These are all potential barriers to using effective counseling behaviors in the classroom.
The benefits of applying interpersonal skills and counseling methods in the classroom are numerous. It takes no longer to listen effectively than to listen ineffectively. Responding effectively to students who are impulsive will put them at ease and help them to adjust to the classroom. Avoiding the assumption that students are deliberately disruptive may sometimes allow them to modify their behavior and feel success in school. Students will perform better in class when they feel that teachers understand them and will attempt to help them with their problems. Helping students to clarify their problems and move to solutions will benefit the student directly and improve the learning environment as a result of healthier learners. Moreover, as the teacher effectively models interpersonal skills, students will adopt them. These interpersonal skills are the foundation for effective problem solving and social skills training for students. Teachers who are trained in interpersonal communication and counseling interventions can effectively manage the complicated task of enhancing students' learning and personal growth.
Interpersonal communication and counseling interventions may be most helpful in alternative education settings. Students with mild to moderate disabilities often have deficits in social and emotional behavior and difficulty in affect and motivation. Teachers who are specially trained in counseling behaviors can effectively help these students to express their feelings, change their behaviors, and increase their success both personally and academically.

Activity 1. Insert activity 1 about here. Emphasize the importance of sharing opinion and not simply recalling statements in the lecture. Students should explore their own perceptions of the role of helping in the classroom. If time permits, and/or if students are working in a large group, it would be helpful to encourage them to talk about their perceptions in a small group. Students may look for similarities and differences in their opinions. They may also generate examples of the pros and cons of using counseling skills in the classroom.

The Culturally Skilled Teacher/Counselor

Activity 2. (Activity 2 provides a framework for the following discussion on cross-cultural helping.) It is important in helping others that you consider their culture. First, it is important to examine your own culture. What are the behaviors, feelings, actions, and values that are important in your views of teaching and learning? List several words without talking out loud about them. It may be helpful to reflect on your own educational experience. Examine your values carefully. How did you come to value these ideas about teaching and learning? What happens when students have different values than yours?

[Culturally skilled counselor/teachers know…]

• Culture shapes our behaviors, feelings, actions, and values
  
• Dignity is preserved when culture is preserved
  
• Cross-cultural relationships are likely to involve miscommunication and misjudging
  
• Inconsideration of students' culture results in failure of helping
  
• Objectives for students from culturally different cultures should be relevant for that student

Teachers who have an understanding of students' cultures will understand their behavior better and be able to handle their behavior in the classroom. Every action that a child exhibits in school can be traced to their culture, that is, their values, beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and actions. Knowledge of cultures that are different from your own also helps to challenge the negative assumptions that we sometimes make of persons from other cultures. [Discussion of different cultures is beyond the scope of this presentation. However, many helpful books are available to learn about helping others from cultures that are different from your own. Understanding culture of those from other cultures can help you to successfully understand the behavior of that person and to be a more effective helper. African American, Native American, Asian American, and Hispanic/Latino American are just a few of the many cultures that you can learn about. (Provide a list of books here)].
Unfortunately, it is often that we make inaccurate judgments and ineffectively communicate with those who are from different cultures than our own. It is difficult to challenge your assumptions. We all want to think that we are impartial, unbiased, and objective with our students. WE ARE NOT. NONE OF US ARE. To be an effective helper to students, you must always challenge your assumptions about students.

Activity 3. Generate a list of as many behaviors, values, and attitudes that teachers would like for students to exhibit in the classroom. Examine the list carefully. What are the students attributes that you value? Why do you think that you value those attributes? How many of these attributes that teachers desire in their students are culturally determined? Discuss how they are culturally determined. For example, students from the Asian American culture may be more likely to avoid eye contact although this is considered "friendly" and "respectful" by Western culture. Students who are from families who live in poverty do not value and experience discrimination as a way of life may behave in ways that helpers from the majority culture view as "unmotivated" or "lazy" in comparison to students who believe that school is a means of succeeding in their goals.

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