There are a plethora of skills necessary to be an outstanding teacher. The five most important are having relationships with students, being able to effectively manage a classroom, organizing and being involved in extracurricular or school-wide activities, being technologically advanced, and finally, differentiating instruction.
      

The most important aspect of being a teacher is having meaningful relationships with students, parents, and the school community. A teacher must have positive relations with their students in order to be well liked and gain respect from students.  Showing students and parents that you care and taking time out of your day to either go to one of their soccer games or dance recitals conveys the message that you are more than just a teacher to them.
      

In order to effectively manage a classroom a teacher must be organized. If a classroom is unorganized and messy the students will not learn as best they can. If a teacher has a clear designated place for everything the students will feel more comfortable in their environment. A teacher must also be firm in establishing their guidelines and rules for the classroom. An educator should strive to be considered a strict but fair teacher who has an excellent rapport with his or her students.
Schools and the PTO constantly have fundraisers or community service events to help raise money for specific causes. A teacher should never be out the door at 3:00 when the bell rings. A dedicated instructor would be sure to attend all school-wide events. Even more so, a teacher should be willing to help organize and deeply involve the school community in the fundraising efforts.
    

Being technologically advanced in today’s society is a necessity. The ability to create and author websites is also extremely important in order to keep parents and students updated of what is going on in the classroom. Being adept at using SMARTBoards and a wide range of technological tools are key in order to succeed at teaching in the 21st century.
   

Lastly, differentiated instruction and making accommodations in order to reach all learners in the classroom is crucial. In today’s classrooms we have a variety of learners; basic skills, remedial, gifted, talented, ESL, students with disabilities, and advanced proficient students. In order to reach each one of these levels we must be sure to make each lesson with varying difficulty. There must be accommodations for children who are partially proficient and there must also be challenges presented for those students who are gifted or talented. There are a wide variety of learning styles, to name a few we have: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, musical, intrapersonal, and interpersonal. Each lesson should seek to target these different types of learning styles.
    

Once a teacher has established relationships with each child, successfully manages a classroom, immerses themselves into the extracurricular and school-wide events, has become adept at using a wide variety of technological tools, and differentiates instruction it is then that they have the ability and power to become an outstanding educator in the 21st century.