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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 TEACHERS 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 selfactualizing 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 Friendly Responsible Biased, partial Placid Rational Concerned about morality Planful Cultured Frugal Dry, dull Natural, unaffected Sober, solemn Warm, outgoing Good-tempered Conventional Dominant 64.02 62.09 57.60 55.83 53.83 53.05 52.27 51.27 49.73 49.19 48.36 48.34 48.31 48.01 47.04 45.75 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 Warm, outgoing Having a sense of humor Capable of being a leader

87.61 86.85 86.04 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 TEACHERS 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 (Aydn, 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 selfconfidence 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 decades study which shows that teachers can merge into the students personal effective circle in the classroom PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TEACHERS IN THE SAMPLE Characteristics Gender Female Male Age 25 and less 26-35 36-45 46-55 47 73 56 16 23, 7 36, 8 28, 3 8, 0 111 87 56, 1 43, 9 F %

__________________________________________________________________

56 and more Length of Service 0-5 years 6-10 years 11-15 years 16-21 years 21 years and more n=198

6 44 72 44 23 15

3, 2 22, 2 36, 4 22,2 11,6 7,6

________________________________________________________________ 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 4Which 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 TEACHERS 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 childrens 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 todays teachers. Teachers today are not only educators, but therapists, parent substitutes, mentors, advocates, and more. Therefore, it stands to reason that a teachers personality and teaching style can have a profound impact on childrens 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 teachers 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 childrens 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 teachers 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 teachers 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.

TEACHERS 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, selfefficacy, 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 teachers 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 teachers 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 dont understand as group efforts. After that, I

would ask my teacher if I really dont understand difficult concepts or materials. RZs 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 RZs 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 teachers 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 teachers 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 dont 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 teachers 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.

REFERENCES 1. Allport, G.W. Traits Revisited. American Psychologist, 1966, 21, 1-10, In G. Lindzey et al (Eds.), Theories of Personality: Primary Sources and Research, 2nd ed. New York: Wiley, 1973. 2. Beck, W.R. Pupils' Perceptions of Teacher Merit: A Factor Analysis of Five Postulated Dimensions. Journal of Educational Research, 1967, 61, 127-128. 3. Callahan, S.G. Successful Teaching in Secondary Schools. Glenview, 111. Scott, 1966. 4. Coats, W.D. Student Perceptions of Teacher: A Factor Analytic Study. Paper presented the American Educational Research Association convention, 1970. Cited in W. Jones & P. A. Sommers, The Delicate Art of Teacher Evaluation. Journal of Experimental Education, 1976, 44, 44-50. 5. Cortis, G.A. An Analysis of Some Differences between Primary and Secondary Teachers. Educational Research, 1973, 15, 109-114. 6. Dandes, H.M. Psychological Health and Teaching Effectiveness. Journal of Teacher Education, 1966, 18, 301-306.

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