I've Got Skills

No matter the career path we choose, we must possess a certain set of skills in order to find success.  As we begin the journey to our career choice, we often find ourselves taking a variety of assessments to see what skills are our strengths and those skills which are yet to be developed.  To maintain your peak performance in your career, you must constantly be willing to assess your skills, sharpen them, and some times develop new ones.  Our career choice also calls for us to foster specific skills within our students.  We are tasked with helping them in the development of social, emotional, and academic skills.

What skills are important for a successful teacher to have? 

Do you need to like kids?

Do you need to be organized?  

Do you need to be a people person?

Do you need to be able to clearly articulate yourself?

Do you need patience?

Do you need to be flexible?

Do you need to be a life long learner?

Do you need to be a team player?

Do you need to be a risk taker?

Do you need to be a leader?

We each have a particular skill set that makes us successful in many different areas.  I like to think of myself as organized.  This skill allows me to manage a variety of schedules and events efficiently.  I would like to think I can effectively express my thoughts via verbal or written means. But there are some skills I am not very good at.   While professionally I am fine with some risk taking, personally...no.  I am not bungee jumping, skydiving, or jumping off a cliff.  No way.  No how.

Where we lack skills, we often look to other to help us fill those gaps.  Not creative?  We find a friend to help us with ideas and crafts.  Feeling down?  We look to others to bring us up through their stories, experiences, and encouragement.  Not wanting to take a leap into something new?  Sometimes you need that friend to nudge or push you in the right direction.

As educators, we must also work on developing these skills within our students and give them opportunities to shine.  Like all of us, some students have a particular skill that shines brighter.  We look at this when we pair students up, when we assign projects, and when we make accommodations for students to find success.  Keep helping our student hone their skills.  No matter what they choose as a career, a particular set of skills will be needed and effectively executed to help them find success.

While the graphic below is headed "If Teachers Starred n Movies", the lines, taken from the movie "Taken" and Liam Neeson, it does relate to having skills...a particular set of skills...