TEN BASIC PRINCIPLES OF GOOD TEACHING

Author: SIR. ERIC WIREKO (EXAMINER)

1. Faith.

Just as faith moves mountains, faith in your students can move them to heights never imagined.

2. Harvesting.

Make each and every day a great student harvest. Refuse to let your pupils fail.

3. Faithfulness.

Insist that your students faithfully perform every little act. The way they enter the room, way they keep their desks, the way they head their papers, the way they dress-all such things should be done with élan. Getting the little things right makes the bigger things easier as well.

4. Don’t be a Judas.

Never betray the confidence of your students. You are their teacher some of the time, but you should be their friend all of the time. So, for example, never write negative comments on their records that could damage them in the future; instead, take the time to polish every mind until the luster shines through. Today’s problem student might become tomorrow’s leader.

5. Teach even the least of them.

Teach as if every child, regardless of his or her
background and family conditions, is the son or daughter of a Harvard or Yale graduate.

6. Teach with passion.

Teach because you can’t help it, not for what you are paid.
Teach with devotion, dedication, and a steel-trap determination that will not allow your students to plunge into mediocrity or failure.

7. Go into the schools and spread your gospel.

Teach so well and so diligently that even the most recalcitrant student drops his or her indifference and becomes motivated.

8. Teach as if your life depended on it.

Positive attitudes are catching. When you make a lesson come alive with what I call hot teaching, every child becomes a winner.

9. Come as a teacher who is there to save students, not fail them.

Any ordinary teacher can fail a student. Superior teachers make the poor students good and the good students superior. If others have declared a child a failure, dare to say, “I will be the
one to save you, child.

10. Never give up.

If at first you don’t succeed with a child, keep trying, knowing that one more effort can make all the difference.

Mr. Eric Wireko is a TEACHER & EXAMINER
(B’ED. GHA. LANG. AKAN – UEW)
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