Teachers play many roles throughout the day, but I feel the most important of these is educator. At it's core, that is what being a teacher is all about. It is your job to instruct your students in the basics of education, then expand that knowledge and introduce new concepts as the year progresses.
When you think of the traditional role of a teacher, you typically invoke the image of the old one room school house and the strict schoolmarm at the head of the class, leading endless recitations of classic poems and arithmetic. Back then, if you got it, you got it. If not? Well, you could always be a hired hand. Thankfully,today's teachers are much different; they need to teach in a more flexible way, utilizing different techniques and strategies that will meet students where they are.
Along with modern education practices, a teacher must also inspire a life long love of learning. I feel this is the hardest role a teacher must play. You must balance instruction with inspiration and enthusiasm. There are certainly proven ways to encourage that spark, but I would venture to say most of the time being a muse takes a muse of your own: the children. You can use what you know of your students as well as their questions and observations to build on and clarify the material being presented. If you view teaching as a give and take relationship, everyone in the classroom will learn -- the teacher included.
