What makes a great teacher is a question that has an exceptional value for the learning process, as it defines the prerogatives of both the teacher and the learner. In this work, we are going to present our personal view as to the question of what qualities are essential for a great teacher, and what learning strategies should they apply in order to meet the needs of effective educational process. As far as education is closely connected with socialization and further development on an individual, it is of a great importance that a teacher creates environment that contributes to forming values and skills in the learners for their participation in social life.
To our mind, the most important thing that any teacher should acquire is the ability to create atmosphere encouraging students to fulfill their potential and broaden the horizons of their knowledge:
“Teachers’ beliefs in and about human potential and in the ability of all children to learn and achieve are critical. These aspects of the teachers’ mental models have a profound impact on the learning climate and learner states of mind that teachers create. Teachers need to understand students’ feelings and attitudes will be involved and will profoundly influence student learning” (Caine and Caine, 1997, p. 124).
It is important to realize that different students have different abilities to learning. Here we can talk in terms of differentiated learning strategies in order to achieve success with a great variety of learners. Differentiation is a philosophy that teacher or learning community implements in order to meet the unique needs of different learners. The main point of differentiation is that it helps the teacher to plan strategically the learning process according to the diversity of learners in classrooms (Gregory, 2008). Our opinion is that it is a very important point that should be the highest concern for all the teachers, as it helps to understand the essentials of the learning process, which is the first step for its improvement and effective development.
In order to encourage students to participate in the learning process, a teacher has to make them feel that they are free to learn, and their studies are relevant, effective and meaningful. Therefore, it is important to consider their motivations and the complexity of tasks so that they are challenging enough but not overwhelming. Maintaining high level of motivation throughout a learning process is important and can be achieved by setting different goals in order to keep the learners interested at all times.
Another thing of no less importance is teacher creating environment conductive to learning. What we mean is that every student has to feel included in the learning process and encouraged to express their individual thoughts and ideas as to the subject of learning. It is important that the emphasis is put on the process of learning rather that the students’ IQ, so that they feel safe in the climate created in the classroom. Teacher’s attitude is the feature that defines the relationship between the teacher and the students …