Characteristics of an Effective Educator

Coming into teaching with a background in youth development, I am pleased to see the characteristics of an effective educator are similar to an effective youth worker. There are two characteristics and practices that I see in our reading that reveal how to be an effective educator. The first characteristic is that the educator must be passionate and highly competent about their endorsement subject. Nieto explains this when she points out that students from low SES will never break the achievement gap with high self esteem alone (Nieto 2002). The second is that the educator must have the right balance of dominance and cooperation. Students must know that you care about them and their success but also that expectations will be informed both for positive and negative behaviors (Marzano 2007). I believe these are powerful characteristics that a teacher can have, yet are difficult to acquire. There is always room to grow in personal competency as well as in a classroom management style. However, as I begin my journey into teaching, these are the two characteristics I would like to follow. I believe these fit well into SPU's dispositions of service, leadership, competence and character. Passion, understanding, and high expectations are the characteristics I hope to pursue as a teacher, as I also hope to become more competence in my endorsement area. I believe that is the step to serving students and being and educational leader.