Patience is the foundation on which most other fundamental teaching elements are built. A teacher who exhausts every technique of teaching and fails has, at the very least, patience. However, a teacher without patience is like a house built on sand, if shaken hard enough, they will collapse. Patience is often the source of which most other virtues are derived. Without patience, learning is difficult. In the book Elements of Teacher, James Banner attains, “learning means being open to the knowledge of others, especially of one’s own student”. An impatient teacher does not consider the previous knowledge of their student; they are simply focusing on what the student must eventually know and what the teacher knows. It is for this reason an impatient teacher finds it difficult to swerve off the track of a course outline. They know where they have to get and get frustrated and confused when someone does not keep pace.

Like learning, authority is also reliant on patience. While authority is partly gained by a teacher’s knowledge and character, it is only fully possible when students give their respect in return. An impatient teacher rarely gains respect with students. Power, however, being a coercive force ties in well with an impatient teacher whose demand is not being met.

Most would not argue that learning requires order, which seems simple but what does order require? Perhaps one of the fundamentals of order would be the implied tranquility in the classroom. Impatient teachers create hostile environments and inhibit their student’s ability to learn. This is why patience is often the last resort for teachers because when frustrations rise, it is all you have. Without patience, you fail not only to teach students the morning lesson, but now you may suffer from an unpleasant learning environment in the afternoon and perhaps the rest of the week.

Patience often stems from compassion. Compassion requires a teacher to take on a student perspective, thus making their demands bearable. A teacher who is able to see through the eyes of a student is slow to grow impatient with them. Compassion also moves teachers to acknowledge a student’s struggle. If a teacher is aware of the struggles facing their students, they do not grow frustrated. In fact, assessing student’s struggles strengthens teaching techniques and sharpens your skills as a teacher.

What does patience look like then? It does not rush through material that the teacher finds “easy”. From the gifted student to the struggling student, it looks through many perspectives. It helps give rise to patience in return, by exemplifying itself. And often, patience is a decision, be it a nagging reminder, for every teacher before beginning a lesson. While patience invites decision-making and may included simple rules, character is not so black and white.

Character is a virtue that cannot be taught to a teacher. No one can teach or even create your character. Character is the result of so many factors that it cannot even be replicated. Every teacher is different and that’s okay. What is not okay is to create a character that is not you. Teachers must be authentic. Why is authenticity important? Unauthentic teachers are not consistent. We are all subject to react in a classroom. Reactions are natural, however, combined with a fake character, they create inconsistency, which is easily seen by the students.

Teachers must avoid adapting another teacher’s character and instead create a distinct, unique individual. With that said, a teacher should also welcome character change. Like every other teaching virtue and technique, character will grow, evolve and mature over time. Above all else, a teacher must learn to adapt, and thus strengthen all elements of teaching.