Resilience

Resilience is a disposition that is essential to teaching. Unfortunately, many teachers do not have resilience and give up on either a student, a class, or teaching all together. This does, however, leave the teachers with resilience in education. Teachers who refuse to let their students fail are the teachers who create interest in a subject and instill a love for education. Resilience is what keeps one going when "the going gets tough." Teaching can be one of the most rewarding professions around. It will, however, test one from time to time. The resilience of a teacher will be the determining factor between success and failure.

Efficacy

At my high school, there were huge differences between the top ten percent of each grade and the rest of the students. The top ten percent were motivated, hardworking, and extremely involved. In the clubs, musicals, and sports teams, the members were shared. The students who were successful at my high school benefitted, at some point from a parent or a teacher with a great deal of efficacy. A teacher should inspire his or her students to perform at a high level. Efficacy is closely related to motivation, as both dispositions lead to higher student involvement and gives them the self-confidence required to thrive in an academic environment.

I wanted my high school to adopt a mentoring program in which one or two students in the top ten percent went into a freshman advisory a few times a week and mentored the freshman. Unfortunately, this program was not created until after I graduated, but it was created. I believe that, if the older students take their roles as mentors seriously, they can help get the freshman more involved. They can also help the freshman get on the right track.

Efficacy is an important for all teachers to have. As a swim teacher over the summer, I had to be as much of a coach as I was a teacher. I had one kid in a level one class, which was the lowest level, who had been in level one for years. This boy was convinced that he could not swim. It took me two of the three weeks to get him comfortable enough to float on his back without my help, but he took off after that. He passed level two in the next three weeks and will be taking level three next summer. Efficacy, like motivation, allows students to become more confident and, eventually, more successful.