Humility

Humility is a big issue, and it is one that I fear most people never resolve. It is one thing to exude confidence, but another thing all together to appear to be an egotistical know-it-all. The balance is incredibly delicate and must be monitored, because either extreme should be avoided. I'm not really sure that I know what the perfect balance between humility and confidence is. A teacher must certainly be confident in what they are teaching and show that to their students This is absolutely essential to appear as a person worth learning from. "Um"s and awkward pauses are bad things for a teacher to employ. Maintaining that professionalism and confidence, they must still not have the air of "I have an advanced degree and you don't, so you should just listen to everything I say as absolute fact" When you get to that point, you have gone too far. A teacher should listen to and respect the questions and opinions of their students and try at all times to treat them like people. I do believe, however, that a little more confidence than humility that is kept in check at all times is an ideal balance.