Is There a Great Preschool Teacher?

Yes, there is. Of course, no one is perfect, but there are great teachers who are committed to learning, continuous development, and children, always reflects universal human values, teaches by smiling, making them smile, entertaining, making children feel that they are valuable individuals, and offering countless benefits to children’s lives, inspiring them to try. Their greatest wonder lies in their passion for understanding, loving, counting children, and exploring the universe. The truth is that teaching is a demanding job that requires many skills and qualifications. Teaching is a very rewarding profession as well as challenging. There are certain characteristics that make a preschool teacher stand out from the crowd. Some of these traits may exist in your temperament, and many can be developed over time. Dear preschool teachers, prospective teachers who decided to choose this profession, or newly graduated preschool teachers who are preparing to start their career as preschool teachers, you can be a great preschool teacher. What you need to do is not to stop striving to reach your best and be patient. If you think you are very good at a few of the traits listed below, you are already a good teacher and on your way to becoming a great teacher.

What Are the Characteristics of a Great Preschool Teacher?

1. Always welcomes children with a smile

The effect of a smile is not always fully appreciated. However, today, research explains that even a small smile is a great power that helps us stay calm while projecting a positive image and positive emotions to others, giving us happiness and vitality. It is difficult for children to find a reward as satisfying as starting the day with a friendly teacher and spending the whole day with that friendly teacher. Smiles strengthen communication, make a teacher seem more approachable, and offer them the opportunity to increase social interaction with his students. Great teachers are those who take care to greet children with a smile, even in their most difficult moments.

2. Sees every child as a valuable individual

Every child is different and special. To find the best ways to teach children, we must first understand them and explore their individual aspects. Children need to know that we respect and value them. In order to meet these needs, we need to get to know them closely and really listen. We get to know children better when we take the time to talk to them, play with them, observe them, and learn about them as human beings. There are different sources of motivation that motivate each child. A great preschool teacher knows that every child is a unique individual, and when approaching children, he asks these questions in mind: “What are their interests, temperaments, and learning styles? What motivates them? How do they learn best? What skills and abilities do they have? What challenges do they face? What are the special circumstances that affect them?” A teacher who is able to develop child-specific approaches by learning the answers to these questions is really great. With this information, he strives to strengthen the strengths of each of the children and encourages them to discover their own genius.

3. Recognizes each child and their parents/siblings by name

Addressing people by their names has tremendous power. When we take the time to memorize someone’s name and call them by name, we are telling them that we value them and that their individual needs are important to us. A great teacher knows all of his students by name, be it one, five, or twenty. They try to memorize the names of the children’s parents and siblings in a short time.

4. Strives to improve themselves professionally and personally

A great teacher is someone who never stops learning. He regularly follows new education/training trends while avoiding throwing away methods that have worked in the past. It aims to reach its “best self” professionally and personally, knows how to face its mistakes or deficiencies, and adopts the philosophy of lifelong learning. A great teacher as well as a student. He also shows the children that he is constantly trying to improve himself and thus sets a great example for them.

5. They are planned, proactive, create a certain routine and program

A great preschool teacher is someone who is proactive and prefers to go with plans. These plans, prepared on a timetable, include the development goals of individual children, education/activity programs, scenarios related to possible risks and precautions to be taken against them. A great preschool teacher, who develops by learning from his experiences and constantly improves his plans, combines a regular, scheduled, and routine lifestyle with the “learning with fun” method. For them, every day has a predetermined plan of action and routines that should not be broken easily. Children may not always be able to adapt easily to routines, rules, or schedules. This is natural, and a good preschool teacher works patiently to help children adapt routines—like washing hands before meals or brushing teeth after meals—or adjusting to activity/play schedules. Routines are educational for children. At the same time, routines reflect the teacher’s interest in and value for the child. Specially planned activities and specially prepared environments make children feel safe, loved, and cared for.

6. It is flexible, produces new solutions

While it’s important to have a consistent routine and schedule, it’s also important to be flexible. If children are not interested or not taking action in the activity we have prepared, it may be necessary to change the plan and find a new solution. A great preschool teacher has a creative world and knows how to be flexible with ease and revise plans quickly.

7. Is an energetic and creative explorer, just like a curious scientist

Children are naturally curious and creative. They want to explore the world quickly, experiment, and learn. Their energetic nature and the right stimulus from the adults around them help them learn quickly, produce and understand the world. Children are almost like energetic explorers or curious scientists. So does a great preschool teacher. One of the most important contributions of great teachers is to spark children’s innate curiosity and creativity. They know how to accompany the curious world of children like a mature child and adapt to their endless energies. In doing so, they ask children open-ended questions and encourage them to explore what they are curious about, to dream, to think creatively, to learn, and to love learning.

8. Is versatile, reflects their positive aspects

Just as every child has a unique personality and interests, teachers also have their own personalities and passions. A great preschool teacher cares about expressing themselves honestly, reflecting on her positive aspects, and thus being the right role model for children. For example, in their spare time, they start an exciting conversation by telling children about passions or new interests, such as joining an astronomy club, playing the guitar, collecting stones, drawing portraits, reading science fiction novels, trying new recipes, singing or riding a bike. Or they plan fun activities where they can transfer these skills to children practically. For example, if the teacher is into singing, they organize a karaoke event and sing a song at the event. Such entertaining/instructive and intriguing conversations or creative activities inspired by the teacher’s own world contribute to the emotional and social development of children while strengthening the bonds between the teacher and the child, encouraging children to boldly try new things, follow their passions, and express themselves.

9. They always carry humor along

Humor is a powerful communication tool. It strengthens the bond between people and reduces stress. Great teachers always carry the healing power of humor with them. Humor requires critical and creative thinking, looking at things from fun and different angles. Teachers who can keep their humor will have a much happier teaching experience—and are likely to make better teachers—than others. Teaching is serious business, but it’s also fun—it should be fun. Children experience the most effective learning process when they learn while having fun. Great teachers know this and want to experience the joy of being with young children every moment. When a child does something funny, they take care to share their joy. They use humor to teach children about a boring subject by making it fun and interesting, or sometimes just to relieve stress and make children happy by making room for laughter.

10. Is a great listener and is empathetic

Children feel both valued and safe when we truly listen to them and strive to understand their world. Great preschool teachers manage to approach children’s world with empathy and establish mutually respectful communication with them. They act by taking into account the needs of children, both when using body language and when communicating verbally. Body language is an important part of nonverbal communication, and children are also quite adept at catching nonverbal cues, whether we realize it or not. That’s why it’s so important to talk to a child face-to-face in order to form a really close bond with them. Great teachers take care to communicate with children by descending to their height and making eye contact and listening to them wholeheartedly.

11. Creates an ideal world for children

A great preschool teacher aims to prepare children for school and life as strong individuals and plans to teach them many core values ​​and skills. The world he has prepared for children is like a “reflection of an ideal world” – a world that is peace-loving, helpful, art-loving, sports-loving, game-loving, democratic, dreamy and friendly. In this world, children meet with basic concepts – democracy, peace, art, science, justice, cooperation – with age-appropriate content and activities, they learn through books and games, they dream, they ask questions, they experiment, they produce, they take responsibility. Children are not afraid to express their opinions, show their feelings or ask questions in the presence of a great preschool teacher.

12. Dedicated to work, is patient

Preschool teachers deal with multiple situations and children with different abilities and personalities. It takes time and patience to teach children to adapt to a new classroom or a new student, a new schedule, and new relationships. Understanding and observing each child well, giving feedback to parents of children, and collaborating with them is never easy. This is indeed a very difficult task. Great preschool teachers are people who are willing and patient to achieve difficulties. They don’t give up easily. They are people who are committed to their profession and to the development of children. Patience is one of their greatest wonders.

Early Education: “A great preschool teacher is one who succeeds in making a difference in children’s lives whether at home or at school!”

In our opinion, a great preschool teacher, be it at home or in kindergarten, can make a huge difference in a child’s life with their teaching. Even if a teacher works at home, they are still a very valuable teacher who adds value to children’s lives. We believe that a contribution made today to help children acquire a love of learning and basic skills in early childhood when the foundation for their mental and physical development is laid is a very important contribution to their upcoming school life and to their entire future. This contribution also benefits society and is perhaps the most valuable/meaningful investment at the same time, because children are the ones who will create and manage the future.

At Early Education we want children to reach their true potential and have a great future. To support this, we work with native Turkish-speaking experts, teachers, assistant teachers, and baby nurses who are experts in newborn care, who have university or high school diplomas in the fields of “preschool child education/development/care” as trainers.

If you are a preschool teacher, you can join the Primary Education family by filling out the application form on our website. Thanks to the innovative cooperation model we have established, we would like to enable our preschool teachers to serve as “trainers” in the home environment and thus increase the benefit they can contribute to children and society.

Parents and trainers who want to join the Pre-Education family or want to get detailed information about our services can reach us by filling out the application forms on our website.

Dear parents, don’t you want your preschool children to continue learning with expert preschool teachers while you fulfill your home or work obligations? If you, like us, believe in the importance of early childhood education, of course, you want it, and you even argue that it is also a need or necessity. Early Education exists to meet this demand/need of yours and to meet your child at home with the right preschool teacher at their most important age.

Well, our esteemed pre-school teachers, wouldn’t you like to bring the education you have received and the experiences you have gained so far to the children as soon as possible? By joining the Early Education family, you can support parents who want to prepare their children for school and life in the warm atmosphere of their homes.

Our parents and teachers who want to join the Early Education family can contact us by filling out the application forms on our website.