THE TEACHER'S PERSONALITY

INTRODUCTION:
This paper is intended to explore the teacher's personality. The exploration is
primarily based on relevant research and theory. Recent research on teacher
personality in the United States, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong will be
reported, following a brief discussion of the nature of teaching, the task of the
teacher, and the importance of teacher personality.

WHAT IS PERSONALITY?

Few people understand the meaning of personality and its importance in the
classroom. Some feel that personality is the kind of person one just happens to be,
others have said that "it is being like others." Most important, many teachers do not
realize the nature of their own short comings simply because they do not fully
grasp the significance of the role of personality.

Dr. W. H. Burnham said "everyone knows what personality is, but no one can
define it."1 Even though the definition is complex, most people will agree that
personality "is the extent to which one is able to interest or influence other
people.2 This means that your personality is the sum total of the qualities of
character, mind and body that make you different from other people.3 It is a simple
matter of human relations. It is the outward evidence of your inner qualities which
determine your thoughts, feelings and actions in any given situation.- On this the
Lord said, "for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh". The Apostle
Paul said, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are
honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things
are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there
be any praise, think on these things".

At this point extreme caution must be exercised. In addition to influencing others

to think with us on things wholesome and right, the teacher's personality must be
such as to develop habits and skills which interest and serve others. It's doing
things with people, for people and even involves self-sacrifice.

WHY STUDY TEACHER’S PERSONALITY?

There are several reasons why one should give attention to the matter of
personality:

(1) To bring about understanding: Someone has said, "to understand is to begin to
cure." If the teacher has trouble getting along with people, if he cannot take
criticism or suggestion, if he feels inadequate, then some facet of his personality
must be changed. One is not born with personality in the sense that we are using
the term. Personality is developed and acquired, not inherited. It grows
continuously and can be altered to suit the demands.

Personality is not something that just happens. It is the definite result of cultivation
as one goes on in life.4 just as one must keep weeds and grass out of a flower bed,
so one must eliminate undesirable elements in the realm of personality. The door
of the mind must be closed to the evil things of life, to bad habits and questionable
indulgences. Let the teacher look at himself with a view toward better
understanding. "Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; prove your own
selves". If a weakness exists, then correct it.
(2) It is a great asset: Next to the knowledge of truth personality is the greatest
asset in the life of the Christian who teaches. It is the power with which one wins
other people and inspires personal devotion in others. A positive personality is the
"feather in the cap" of the Bible class teacher.

(3) Most classroom problems are people problems: Because of this, one must
understand people in order successfully to teach. The clash of personalities is
nothing new. In addition to knowing oneself, the other person must be given
consideration. A teacher with a pleasing personality may be the center of
argumentation resulting in classroom rowdyism. On the other hand, an irritating
and belligerent student can suddenly become pleasant and cooperative. Personality
definitely affects others one way or the other. This demonstrates the need for
placing top priority on a working understanding of personality.

The more you understand personalities (including your own), the better you
become in processing people problems in the classroom.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY

As suggested above, personality can be changed and altered. A poor

personality cannot be the result of heredity in the sense that one inherits a good or
bad personality. It is the result of our own outlook and response to things around
us; this shapes our personalities. As Oliver Holmes said, "I am part of all that I
have met."5 If one can learn to read, to write, and even speak by practice, one can
also learn the skills of good personality.

Unlike our physical bodies which grow almost automatically, personality needs
constant self-direction. Some of the areas needing attention are: sincerity, personal
integrity, humility, courtesy, charity and wisdom.6 these characteristics should be a
part of the Christian's life regardless of whether or not one is teaching. These are
musts in the life of the tutor. They are the necessary ingredients of a successful
teacher. You may improve your personality

(1) Admitting that your personality can and should be changed. It was Harry
Emerson Fosdick who said: "the beginning of a wise ambition lies in man's
accepting himself as himself and not as someone else, and in trying to make the
most and the best of that self and not another."

(2) Take an inventory of yourself. Personality wise, where do you stand? What are
your weaknesses, your strong points and where in your life as a teacher, do you
expect difficulty in making desirable changes.

(a) Awareness that your personality must be improved.

(b) Desire to improve your personality traits.

(c) Analyze your good and bad traits.

(d) Plan wisely and systematically for improvement.

(3) Be honest in your responses. Your results will be as accurate as your

willingness to be candid with yourself.

REVIEW OF LITRATURE:

TEACHING AND THE TEACHER'S TASK

Gage (1964) points out that ‘teaching’ are a misleadingly generic term; it
embraces far too many kinds of process, of behavior, of activity, to be the proper
subject of a single theory. He suggests that the concept of teaching be analyzed
according to the types of (1) teacher activities, (2) educational objectives, and/or
(3) learning theories.
A teacher is a person engaged in interactive behavior with one or more
students for the purpose of effecting a change in those students. The change,
whether it is to be in knowledge (cognitive), skill (psychomotor) or feeling states
(affective), is intentional on the part of the teacher. This designation distinguishes
the teacher from instructional materials and other school personnel. The essential
task of the teacher is to arrange the conditions of the learner's environment so that
the processes of learning will be activated, supported, enhanced, and maintained
(Gagne, 1976). Teacher personality is a crucial factor in arranging the conditions
of the learner's environment for effective teaching.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHER PERSONALITY:

Personality may be viewed as the dynamic organization of those traits and
characteristic patterns of behavior that are unique to the individual. Some social
psychologists take the position that personality is purely a matter of social
perception - which it is meaningless to speak of anyone's personality apart from the
particular people who interact with him, get impressions about him, and use trait
terms in describing him. A trait is a simple behavioral pattern - a disposition or
tendency to behave in a describable way. According to Allport, a trait is more
generalized than a habit, is dynamic and determinative in behavior, may be viewed
either in the light of the personality which contains it, or in the light of its
distribution in the population at large, and cannot be proved nonexistent by the
sheer fact that some acts are inconsistent with it.
Research on teacher personality is based on the Research on teacher
personality is based on the assumption that the teacher as a person is a significant
variable in the teaching-learning process. Personality influences the behavior of the
teacher in diverse ways, such as interaction with students, methods selected, and
learning experiences chosen
The effective use of a teacher's personality is essential in conducting instructional
activities. Personality aids teaching, for communication takes place between the
teacher and the learner - even in the absence of the spoken word (nonverbal
communication). The teacher whose personality helps create and maintain a
classroom or learning environment in which students feel comfortable and in
which they are motivated to learn is said to have a desirable teaching personality.
Each individual has characteristic attributes of personality which influence both the
manner in which he behaves toward others and the ways in which they respond to
him. The teacher with pervasive authoritarian characteristics, for example, is likely
to reflect them in his relationships with students and in the techniques he uses in
his instruction. The school is more than a place where knowledge and skills are
taught and learned, it is
a miniature community in itself where members interact and influence the behavior
of each other. The nature of interactions and influences in the school is an
important factor in determining the learner's perceptions of school and his attitudes
toward school-related persons and activities. This factor involves the interplay
between the personality of the teacher and that of the learner.
It can be postulated from the theory of interpersonal perception that a
learner's attitudes toward the teacher will affect his attitudes toward the courses
taught by the teacher and toward the school. It may be further postulated that the
learner's attitude toward a teacher is a function of the teacher's personality. Nelson
reported that teachers and pupils in junior high school deviate significantly in
terms of their attitudes toward each other. He found that teachers are cognitively
oriented toward pupils while pupils are affectively oriented toward teachers.
 Teacher personality is, therefore, directly and indirectly related to learning
and teaching in the affective domain as well as to that in cognitive and
psychomotor domains. Reports of great teachers commonly stress their
personalities, rather than their scholarship or technical teaching skills. If we are to
be concerned with the student's development of identity, Hilgard suggests that we
should not be afraid of showing feeling. Objectivity can be served by showing that
there are those who believe otherwise, but we need not do obeisance to other
viewpoints by sterilizing our own enthusiasm into a vapid eclecticism.

Recent Research on Teacher Personality

Despite Getzels and Jackson's (1963) discouraging conclusion about
previous research on the relation between teacher personality and teaching
effectiveness, research efforts have continued. Reported below are some recent
researches on teacher personality, including efforts to find a personality base for
differences in classroom performance or teacher effectiveness.
1. Many of the positive characteristics of successful teachers discovered by
previous research efforts seem to be in line with Maslow's conceptualization of the
self-actualizing person, whom he sees as a fully functioning, psychologically
healthy individual possessing such attributes as acceptance, spontaneity, autonomy,
democratic nature, and creativeness. Maslow (1970) suggests that the self-
actualizing person is indeed the most effective teacher. This hypothesis was
supported by the findings of empirical studies conducted by Murray (1972) and
Dandes (1966).
2. Coats (1970) did a factor analysis of 42,810 student responses as student
perceptions of teachers. It was found that a factor labeled teacher 'charisma'
accounted for 61.5% of the variance in test items. It was concluded that teacher
charisma is probably a significant factor of teacher effectiveness.
3. Beck (1967) investigated 2,108 sixth-grade pupils' perception of teacher merit.
He concluded that the pupils perceived the effective teacher as a warm, friendly
and supportive person who communicates clearly, motivates and disciplines pupils
effectively, and is flexible in methodology.
4. Ekstrom's study (1976) explored the relations between certain cognitive and
attitudinal characteristics and the instructional behavior of American elementary
school teachers. All subjects (41 second-grade teachers and 54 fifth-grade teachers)
took a battery of tests measuring aptitude, knowledge, cognitive style, and attitude.
One of her findings indicated that more flexible teachers are better able to respond
differentially to pupils without having to resort to using various organizational
strategies (aides, groups, etc.) to produce individualization.
5. Designed to investigate selected aspects of teacher personality in differing
American high school environments, Walker's study (1969) suggested that teachers
in high creative schools are more adaptive, flexible, outgoing, permissive, and
nurturant - factors considered important in fostering creativity.
6. Investigating longitudinally nearly 2,400 first-and fourth-year British secondary
school pupils' attitudes toward school and teachers, Thompson (1975) confirmed
the findings of Wright's study (1962) that what pupils find lacking in teachers are
those qualities which make them human. She found that teachers tend to be seen as
less happy, kind, fair and warm than other adults while excelling in wisdom,
success and hardness. Those attributes seem to coincide with those of the teachers
in traditional society. It was also found that attitudes toward both school and
teachers change as pupils progress through the system. Older pupils do not rate
teachers as less human as they did when they were younger, but do rate them as
less wise and successful.
7. In an analysis of data on 127 primary teachers and 95 secondary teachers in
English schools, Cortis (1973) discerned that, by comparison with primary
teachers, the secondary teachers tend to be more sensitive yet more tolerant in
personality terms, to hold more progressive educational attitudes and to express a
higher degree of satisfaction with teaching. Cortis' findings are contrary to those of
Ryans (1960) who, in his extensive survey of characteristics of American
elementary and secondary teachers, noted that secondary school teachers are more
traditional in their educational viewpoints while elementary school teachers are
more permissive.
8. In a comprehensive project by McKeachie, Lin, and Mann (1971), all items that
had previously been used for student ratings of instructors and instruction in
American colleges and universities were factor analyzed in a series of studies. Six
stable factors that emerged were skill, overload (difficulty), structure, feedback,
group interaction and student-teacher rapport (warmth). One of the findings was
that the students of teachers who were high in 'rapport' (warmth) performed better
on measures of critical thinking than did the other students.
9. A number of characteristics, some of which are related to teacher personality,
have been consistently identified as comprising effective teaching at the college
and university level by Eble (1970) and Hildebrand and Wilson (1970). The major
factors were found to be:
A. Clarity of organization, interpretation and explanation;
B. Encouragement of class discussion and the presentation of diverse points
of view
C. Stimulation of students' interests, motivation and thinking;
D. Manifestation of attentiveness to an interest in students;
E. Manifestation of enthusiasm.
10. Haslett (1976) employed semantic differential scales to measure 667 American
high school students' and 219 American college students' concept of a good
teacher. She also compared her findings with those of previous studies on college
instructors (Clinton, 1930; Bousfield, 1940; and Perry, 1971).
Table 1 shows characteristics (including those related to personality) of good
teachers in rank order of their importance in each study.

TEACHER PERSONALITY AS PERCEIVED BY HONG KONG

SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

The present author, with the assistance of his students at the School of
Education of the Chinese University, conducted a survey study of student
perception of teacher personality in Hong Kong during the academic year 1976-77.
The subjects were 628 Chinese students (326 boys and 302 girls) randomly
selected from Forms III, IV, V, and VI in S3 Hong Kong secondary schools
(including those in Kowloon and the New Territories). They were asked to select
those of the 100 items in a personality inventory developed by the investigator that
indicate the personality traits of most (over 50 %) of their teachers and also of their
ideal teacher as they perceive them. The findings are shown in Tables 2 and 3. The
common traits in Table 2 are those personality traits of most teachers as perceived
by more than 45% of their students, while the ideal traits in Table 3 are those
personality traits of the ideal teacher as conceived by more than 70% of the
students. The cut-off point (70%).This suggests greater agreement among Hong
Kong secondary school students in their conception of an ideal teacher's
personality traits than their perception of most teachers' common traits.
Common Personality Traits of Most Hong Kong Secondary School Teachers
As Perceived By Their Students
________________________________________________________________
COMMON TRAITS RESPONSE (%)
_________________________________________________________________
Practical, realistic 64.02
Friendly 62.09
Responsible 57.60
Biased, partial 55.83
Placid 53.83
Rational 53.05
Concerned about morality 52.27
Planful 51.27
Cultured 49.73
Frugal 49.19
Dry, dull 48.36
Natural, unaffected 48.34
Sober, solemn 48.31
Warm, outgoing 48.01
Good-tempered 47.04
Conventional 45.75
Dominant 45.58

Cut-off point 45 %
__________________________________________________________________
 Personality Traits of the Ideal Teacher as Conceived by Hong Kong
Secondary School Students

IDEA TRAITS RESPONSE (%)

Good-tempered 87.61
Warm, outgoing 86.85
Having a sense of humor 86.04
Capable of being a leader 84.60
__________________________________________________________________

Cut-off point 70%

_____________________________________________________________________

Which indicates that most Hong Kong secondary school teachers already possess
these seven personality traits of an ideal teacher.

THE EFFECT OF TURKISH GEOGRAPHY TEACHER’S

PERSONALITY ON HIS TEACHING EXPERIENCE:

Personality is, in a sense, self-expression of one to the outer world. An

individual starts shaping his personality from birth through his interaction with
numerous variables; that is, he lays the foundations of his own life. In our modern
social life, a healthy personality development enables the individual to perform his
social role effectively, to lead an organized and happy life and to gain a meaning in
the society. Schools, a social institution, are the main environmental factors
effective in the development of personality. Teachers and parents are the ones who
influence the student most. The studies up to now have showed that the personality
of a teacher surely affect his students (Aydın, 1998). Especially in the studies
carried out in the
classroom environment, it is observed that students, while evaluating their
teachers, pay more attention to their personalities than their professional
characteristics and thus adopt them as their own behaviours (Tan, 1992, Soner,
1995, Lewis, 2000).
The information, skills and habits a student receives during the primary
school years through interaction with his environment have great influence on his
future educational life. Therefore, a student has to be provided with faultless
educational environment by allowing a classroom atmosphere that encourages their
personal development. In such an atmosphere, the personality and behaviours of a
teacher are vital elements. Every student should be able to improve and recognize
himself, and gain social skills in this appropriate learning environment. In all the
activities, the individual traits of every student must be included, their self-
confidence must be improved, and they should be helped to accept that there will
always be different
Ideas (Unlenen, 1983, Joyce and Weil, 1986). Especially Soloman and Corbit
(1974) state that the reactions that might closely affect learning are related to other
relevant reactions (teaching experiences), and that they interact with personality
depending on age. These responses first appear at primary school level and are
mostly formed as
Self-expression to outer reactions (Domjan, 2003). Teachers who direct these
mutual reactions are said to have vital impact on the learning of the students and
this impact is shaped with the personalities of the teachers. These traits are
determined by Cruickshank and Bainer (1995) to be willingness, sincerity and
humour, reliability, expectation of optimum success, encouragement and
supportiveness, discipline and
Adaptability/flexibility. In this regard, the personality a teacher reflects into the
classroom environment in the light of these variables affects his teaching and
directive academic behaviour. This developmental perspective the teacher follows
might involve positive concepts that are formed in the personalities of students
with the outer markers. However, these very high concepts of personality are tend
to be less positive and more varied as they grow up, because the personality of
students can be more adaptable to outer markers and might yield to interaction.
Thus, the academic personality of a student in his academic success becomes
predictable (Guay et al., 2003, Alvidrez and Weinstein, 1999, Tuan and Wang,
2000). Many recent study focus on the effects of the interaction between students
and teachers in classroom environment, which is hardly surprising. The result of a
decade’s study which shows that teachers can merge into the student’s personal
effective circle in the classroom

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TEACHERS

IN THE SAMPLE

Characteristics F %
__________________________________________________________________
Gender
Female 111 56, 1
Male 87 43, 9
Age
25 and less 47 23, 7
26-35 73 36, 8
36-45 56 28, 3
46-55 16 8, 0
 56 and more 6 3, 2
Length of Service
0-5 years 44 22, 2
6-10 years 72 36, 4
11-15 years 44 22,2
16-21 years 23 11,6
21 years and more 15 7,6
________________________________________________________________
n=198
is composed of those about the behaviours of the teachers during their classroom
activities (mastery learning). As seen in Table 1, almost half of the teachers are
female (47,7%), while the rest are male (52,3%). According to the age variable,
more than half (57,7%) are at or below 35, while the rest (45,3%) are at and
Above 36. According to the length of service the ones working for 0-10 years are
56,4%, while those working for 11-21 years are 43,6%. SPSS 11, 5 package
program was used to analyze the data. In the analysis of the data, statistical
frequency, percentage and one-way variance calculations were used.

AIM AND PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH

This study aims to determine whether- according to which variables the
personalities of teachers stand out in their teaching experiences. To this end, the
following questions are answered: 1-Do teachers reflect their personalities on
teaching depending on their gender 2-What is the level of the reflection of
personality on teaching experiences depending on age? 3-Depending on the length
of service, which teaching experiences are the most effected by Personality 4-
Which are the personal traits that teachers find dominant in themselves.
TEACHERS PERSONALITY AND MAL ADJUSTMENT

Teachers are in the most strategic position to facilitate a balanced personality

development and a more adequate adjustment of the learner. The effectiveness of
teachers in the personality development and adjustment of students essentially
depends up on teachers on personality.

CAUSES OF TEACHERS MAL ADJUSTMENT

The teacher's own adjustment not only contributes to better adjustment of
pupils but is essential for his own efficiency and happiness. A maladjusted teacher
not only destroys his own professional life but also ruins his or her student's life.
There are many factors which contribute for the mal adjustment of teachers. Some
of the important causes of maladjustment are discussed below
1) Lack of professional attitude and spirit- most of the teachers in our schools
accepted teaching as a profession not because of their interest in teaching but
because they failed to secure other jobs. Such teachers naturally lack professional
attitude and spirit.

2) Work load- the duties and responsibilities of a teacher are always very high and
an average teacher is always under stress. The constant stress creates emotional
tension and anxiety that impair the mental health of the teacher.

3) Insecurity of service:
Services in privately managed schools are generally insecure. The teachers
in such schools live up on the mercy of the management of that school. There is a
constant fear of going out of that service. This creates anxiety and fear in the minds
of the teacher.
4) Poor salary and low status – in the present social set up of India teachers are
poorly paid when compared to their less qualified compartments in other
professions. Added to this in our society teachers are not getting enough respect
and recognition. This may leads to the demotion of self concept of the teacher
which ultimately results in maladjustment.

5) Lack of recreational facilities- teachers seldom gets the time for recreation or
rest. Lack of recreational activities in schools and teachers inaptitude in participate
in them make their professional life dull and uninteresting.

6) Low of physical health- teacher's bodily health is not satisfactory. Low income
and lack of recreational facilities are the reasons for this. Low physical health is an
important factor for low mental health.
7) Maltreatment of management- Most private schools in our country are managed
by the persons of particular cast, religion or creed. Consequently it becomes
difficult for a teacher from a different cast to adjust. Most often he or she may get
step motherly treatment from the managements. This causes worry and mental
stress in the mind of a teacher.
8). High moral expectations- teachers are often expected to behave like an ideal
exemplary by the society. But this is not possible because of the high complexities
of fast-moving society and it is natural that evils of society may affect his
personality naturally in course of time. The failure to rise up to the expectations of
the society creates frustration and conflicts in the mind of the teacher which results
in maladjustment.
9) Unhealthy inter-personal relationship among teachers. - Inter-personal conflict
and tensions among teachers is at peak due to the increasing number of
professional organizations and teacher politics. Harmony, co-operation, love, unity
spirit, good-will of the institution etc has vanished from the teacher's room.
10) Lack of facilities- poor school plant, ill-equipped classrooms, faulty time
schedule, lack of library and laboratory, shortage of teaching aids etc creates
unnecessary stress and strain in teachers.

SUGESSTIONS FOR BETTER ADJUSTMENT OF TEACHERS:

The following programs will help to improve the mental health of teachers
Equitable work load- the present workload should be reduced by appointing more
teachers or by pooling divisions where ever possible. Besides other duties should
be divides equally among all the members of the staff. Security service- rules and
regulations should be modified to ensure the job security of the teachers. Necessary
steps should be adopted to make sure those teachers getting descent payments from
their institutions. This will enhance confidence level of the teacher. Ensure
democratic school environment- democratic operation of the school, open channel
for communication between teachers and administrators, discussion rather than
dictation of policies, absence of casticism, favoritism and groupism team-spirit and
good will among teachers and by assigning equal responsibilities to all.

Improving teacher- teacher relations- inter-personal relations among teachers

should be improved by providing better environment for developing team-spirit
and good will among teachers. Opportunities for professional growth-Teachers
should be frequently equipped with in-service programs to refresh their knowledge
and modify their skills. It enables them to understand the new teaching methods
and strategies available.
Arranging, seminars, workshops and conferences – by arranging, seminars,
workshops and conferences teachers from different schools get mingled each one
will get new experiences that is shared by other one and it will help them in their
profession.

IMPACT OF TEACHERS PERSONALITY AND ADJUSTMENT ON

CHILDREN

A teacher's personality has a great bearing on the personality development of

the students. It is stated that books can teach, only personality can educate. Various
researches prove that emotional stability of the teachers affects the learners. The
impact of teacher's personality development and adjustment on the wholesome
personality development and adjustment of the pupils is discussed below:

Impact of teacher's character and personality: character and the personality of the
students cannot be developed if the teacher who is the model to be followed lacks
character and personality. Aim of education to mould the behavior of the learner to
a preplanned well accepted manner. Such modification of behavior can be found in
ones healthy attitudes, good habits, standard values etc. the development of ones
healthy attitudes, good habits, standard values etc depend up on the nature of
experience one is exposed to. In schools teachers personality remains vital
experience for the students to examine and imitate. The effectiveness of teachers in
the personality development and character formation depends up on teacher's own
personality and character. Through continues identification and introjection's child
consciously acquires and learns the habits attitudes, personality and character from
Teachers.
 Impact of teacher's adjustment: teachers who are competent and emotionally
mature make the total school atmosphere full of learning experience for the
students. On the other hand incompetent and maladjusted teachers spoil the school
atmosphere. Unsatisfied frustrated teachers cannot make students happy and well
adjusted in the school. Teacher should be mentally alert and stable to develop
alertness and stability in students. Teacher's behavior will reflect the student's
behavior.

Impact of teacher's mental health: a mentally health and well adjusted teacher
plays a vital role in promoting mental health of students. Only if the teacher is free
from worries, anxieties, and tensions then only he can impart the function of
promoting mental heath and mental hygiene. Thus in order to develop sound
mental health in student's teacher himself should pose sound mental health.

Impact of teacher's temperament: the general stability of the teacher is of utmost

importance in balance and controlled emotional development of the students. Any
slight mental imbalance or temperamental instability of the teacher will reflected in
the student's behavior.

THE INFLUENCE OF TEACHER’S PERSONALITY TOWARD THE

STUDENTS MOTIVATION:

Teachers as an educator must have a good personality because it will

improve students’ motivation in the classroom. Moreover, it can make the situation
of teaching learning process more interesting and comfortable. The form of
education is firmly related to educational establishment in educational institutions
such as school, educational institutions, and systematic program. In addition,
educational practitioners include counselors, teachers, and instructors who help
learners to achieve the goal desired.

HOW TEACHER PERSONALITY AND STYLE AFFECTS THE GROWTH

OF SELF CONFIDENCE

Teachers are becoming a primary influence in children’s lives, and in some

cases they may be the openly healthy adults some children encounter during the
day. Twenty five years ago family structures were different, and teachers did not
require the depth and variety of social/emotional skills that are required of today’s
teachers. Teachers today are not only educators, but therapists, parent substitutes,
mentors, advocates, and more.

Therefore, it stands to reason that a teacher’s personality and teaching style can
have a profound impact on children’s academic performance and general
development. While the emphasis in the last four parts has focused on the student,
this part will focus on the importance of teaching style in creating a positive
environment in which student confidence is fostered. It will be very important to
step back and evaluate how you are defined as a teacher, your goals in teaching,
and the manner in which you present yourself to students. Does your teaching style
allow for an environment where confidence can really be reinforced or an
environment that may actually impede the growth of confidence

No single aspect of a teacher’s personality may be responsible for improving or

impeding the growth of confidence in a student. For example, a very strict teacher
who is fair, kind, genuine, logical, and nurturing may facilitate the growth of self
confidence despite being very strict. On the other hand, a teacher who is funny but
unstructured and disorganized may not facilitate children’s self confidence.
Despite the fact that the children love the teacher, they may not gain confidence if
the teacher cannot provide the real-life success experiences necessary for the
growth of self confidence.

THE NINE DRAWBACKS THAT CAN JEOPARDIZE A TEACHER'S

PERSONALITY INSIDE THE CLASSROOM

Children love to imitate their teachers no matter whatever the teacher does
or says. They observe minutely every bit of the actions performed by their teacher
and carry every word spoken by the teacher all the way, back home. Hence
teachers need to be very conscious about the gestures they make and the words and
phrases they use inside the classroom. This write up illustrates some of the
practices that teachers may avoid inside the classroom.

1) Avoid shouting at the students. Some teachers are usually under the
impression that by shouting at the children, discipline and silence can be
maintained. It is true to a certain extent but not always. This gesture may create lot
more indiscipline inside the classroom.

2) While teaching, it is usually advisable for teachers to stand and teach. Avoid
sitting while teaching as it gives a very wrong impression upon the teacher’s
interest level towards the topic being taught.

3) Teachers should avoid discussing children or other teachers inside the

classroom. If a child tends to pass a negative comment on any subject teacher, the
other teacher should not encourage the child to repeat this act. The child should be
stopped at that moment itself.

4) Becoming too personal with the children is another thing that the teacher must
avoid. Teachers must try to maintain a certain amount of distance with the
children. Students might take undue advantage of the teacher’s too friendly attitude
to them.

5) Try not to compare and contrast among students inside the classroom. This
practice may give rise to sensitive issues and may spoil the healthy atmosphere
inside the classroom.

6) Bribing children with expensive gifts and misleading comments will rarely
make the child love you. If a teacher wants to be loved by her children then it is
through her teaching skills that she can succeed in doing so. Gifts and flattery are
only temporary companions that will make the child come close to you,but only
for a short period of time. So avoid these as much as possible.

7) Children are emotionally attached to their parents. So teachers must not

entertain conversation related to parents. Most importantly a teacher should never
discuss financial positions of families with her students.

8) Being callous about outfits can be a major drawback for any teacher. A teacher
should be very careful about the outfits she chooses to wear inside the classroom
so that she can carry it well. It should be elegant and not too loud.

9) Avoid using too many harsh words on the children. They pick up words very
fast and this may invite unnecessary problem for the teacher.

Everybody can become good teachers. But choosing the best from the rest lies on
the children. And children of course will feel connected to teachers who know how
to carry their personality inside the classroom, without having these above listed
drawbacks.
TEACHER’S PERSONALITY AND STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION

The findings generally can be described that the Instructional strategies and
students’ motivational factors contributed to their engagement in learning for
understanding. Instructional strategies that were implemented based on conceptual
change teaching and students’ motivational factors such as goals, values, self-
efficacy, and control beliefs provided crucial effect on the quality of student
engagement in learning activities. The findings suggest that both of traditions,
students’ motivation and conceptual change approaches to learning science have
the important implications for those who wish to improve science
teaching/learning.

The teacher’s interaction with the individual students in ways that would
help students to more motivated strategies to engage in learning within social
contexts of the classroom seemed to be the important factor to be considered by the
teacher in daily teaching-learning activities. In other words, it is crucial to
bring together issues of student motivation and conceptual change learning as
suggested by Barlia and Beeth (2002), Boyle, Magnusson, and Young (1993).
In summary, student motivation can be a crucial factor that should be considered
to maximize student engagement in learning for conceptual change. The
followings are the examples of how the elementary school teacher‘s personality
contribute students’ motivation to engage in conceptual change learning in science,
especially for students categorized in the middle and lower level on academic
performance.
Before asking to the teacher, I do asking to my very closely friends who
understand the material. I seem to understand things better when a group of us get
together and work out things we don’t understand as group efforts. After that, I
would ask my teacher if I really don’t understand difficult concepts or materials.
RZ’s motivation to learn science consists of 27% control beliefs, 20% goal
orientation, 32% task value, and 21% self-efficacy. Task value comprises the
largest portion of RZ’s motivational factor profile (see Figure 1). It indicates that
he has positive perception of hard effort in learning will lead him to get a good
grade.

GREAT TEACHER NEEDS GREAT PERSONALITY

The teachers are also human beings and the human beings have many kinds
of personality each other. I think the teachers’ personality can decide the teaching
styles. Although a teacher was trained by an education instructor program, his
personality could not trained by the program. Being a teacher is personal dream for
future but being a great teacher is assessed by other people. Therefore, being a
great teacher has to be measured by educational area including academic
knowledge, teaching skills and teacher’s personality. As people have their innate
specialty, teachers also have their inborn trait that can make a great teacher.

Innately, there are people who do not tend to consider other people. Also,
there are teachers who do not tend to consider their students. Tending to consider
the students, it depends on teachers’ mind. In other words, it depends on teachers’
personality. The great teacher has to consider their students’ attitude, not only
students’ learning attitude in class but also students’ attitude out of class. If a
teacher wants to be a great teacher, he should consider his student. However, it is a
hard work to take care the students deliberately using by educational program
method. That work should be conducted by teacher’s personal inborn mind.
It is totally different that teacher has a great learning ability and teacher has a
great teaching ability. There are two types of teachers. First, some teachers have a
good ability to learn new knowledge and also they graduated the first level
universities, but they don’t have a capacity to teach the new knowledge and
information well. However, even if other teachers graduated second level
universities, they know how to teach the new information to students using by easy
way. How to make students understand easily, it depends on the teacher’s speech
skill.
The personality of teacher is large portion of teaching skills. The personality
cannot be made by external facts and also, the personality is individual innate
traits. Thus, the great teacher is endowed with personal ability.

CONCLUSION:

In an investigation of student description of their ideal teacher, Gage (1963)

concluded that if teachers learned how the students wanted them to behave they
would become more like the student ideal. If this conclusion is valid, the results of
the present author's study in Hong Kong and other similar studies elsewhere should
be useful for teachers' consideration. It is hoped that the research findings and
theories presented in this paper will help improve teacher characteristics, especially
teacher personality, with a view to promoting teaching effectiveness and upgrading
the quality of teaching.
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