TEACHER WITH A HEART

By BABY RODEL SABINO R. DAQUIOAG

A good teacher teaches with a heart. And that makes a great teacher. Great
teachers form a “family relationship” with their learners and they show love and care,
understanding and patience, as well as compassion to them at all. These qualities identify
them as best teachers for me.

Since I started learning valuing teachers, I look for different qualities of an inspiring
teacher – or make that, considered a lot of characteristics that they must possess. But
since I started teaching, I came to realize, I have considered only what are essential to the
naked eye that fulfills my expectation from them since I now belong to the academe. I
came to realize equal expectations from them that it should – at the same time – come
from me.

To me, an inspiring teacher is someone who considers himself teaching with a

purpose; that teaching is not only about guiding or enriching the knowledge of learners,
but also amplifying himself by his or her students – that is – from them, you will come to
know they are inspired themselves by their own teachers.

While teachers have a lot of undertaking, I consider the best teacher to be

someone who considers first the learners – and if necessary, adjust to their needs, to their
level of understanding and to their interests in learning.

What makes a teacher the best is someone who also knows how to communicate
with a heart and someone who chooses the right words for the learners to hear in the
process. In the same way that the best teacher is someone who establishes the class a
family.
 TEACHER WITH A HEART
By BABY RODEL SABINO R. DAQUIOAG

It was not so long ago when I came across someone who really has the heart and
passion in teaching. I have looked up to this teacher, by all means! This teacher had been

I believe that a teacher should also not forget that all students aren’t the same –
in their color, gender, quality of life and in their ability to study. A good teacher
acknowledges and uses different learning methods where the students do not only learn
about the subject matter, but also learn making their lives with quality. That to me
identifies the best teacher.

Ideally, I must say, I have always been looking for the best teacher. But I am always
reminded what Horace Mann, the father of education, said in his theories about who
makes a teacher worthy and inspiring. I remember, Mann said that what make a teacher
worthy is how he makes the learning environment a road to success for his learners.

On the other hand, what to me is a bad teacher is someone who I can consider
not a good example for learners. There are a lot of them in the academe. They are those
you meet elsewhere who find their fellow teachers a threat to their success. They are
those who betrays face-to-face others. They are they who are happy bragging about what
they did, and condemns those who they know are better than them.

They can be found everywhere. These people are conceited. They lack
professionalism; they have this poor judgment. Worst of all, they lack commitment. They
only practice for their best interest and they never appreciate the commitment and
improvement other teachers’ make of themselves. How pathetic that can be! But, true
 TEACHER WITH A HEART
By BABY RODEL SABINO R. DAQUIOAG

enough, in today’s world, there are still those who exist like them. Narcissistic! Egotistic!
Or you can even call them selfish!

I wish they’d come to know and imbibe in their hearts what truly makes an
inspiring teacher. With that, I must say, while I am inspired by a few number of teachers
I came to know and work with, an old adage by Henry Adams inspire me at the same time:
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” That makes me
even more inspired as a teacher myself to be at my best.