Efficacy

A teacher needs to be extremely confident with his or her abilities in the classroom. If they are not confident, the students will pick up on this. If a student does not have faith in the knowledge of their teacher they will not try as hard in the classroom. They will ask less questions and try to get away with doing the least amount of work possible. Demonstrating knowledge in the classroom should have limits though. A teacher should not show off their talents to the extent of what they are capable of, but rather use differentiated instruction to reach each child. If a student is having trouble then the teacher should use a simplified version until the student understands that concept, then add a little more detail into it. On the flip side, a student that is engaged in the material and succeeding should be pushed further, so in this case the teacher can use more of their knowledge to push the student further. Teachers should not settle for a class that absorbs the same information. Instead, they should push each child to the highest level they can perform and succeed in. A teacher that is confident in his or her abilities and knows the material will be able to reach more students than one who lacks these qualities.

These attributes of being confident, using their knowledge and differentiated instruction are all learned with experience. The teacher needs to connect to the students, but with such an age difference between them, the teacher might need to run a few trial and errors. The teacher needs to be observant of the students' needs and know what the best way for them to learn is. Collaborating with other teachers is a good way to learn the culture of the school and the students in it.