Different Types of Teachers: Which One Might You Be?

When you think of ‘teachers’, it probably sounds like they should all be the same. They are most likely boring, strict, and old. However, as most of us know, the reality is that there are many different types of teachers.

The various kinds depend on many factors, such as age, personality, and teaching style. As I am assuming that you, the reader, is most likely a teacher, I will say that you might find yourself relating to more than one type of teacher, or maybe none.

The reason for that would be that this is just a rough categorization of the ‘types’ based on experience and observation. In truth, you cannot pigeonhole any teacher, or any professional for that matter, into one certain type.

Remember that this article is mostly meant to be for fun and hopes to provide some comfort in telling you that you are not alone and hopefully also provides some help and understanding to you.

I have tried my best to group them together. Anyways, here are some of the different types of teachers.

A Quick Summary

  • If you are a Friend, you should take advantage of being this young and relatable to make your classes fun and beneficial.
  • If you are a Parent, you are a treasure.
  • If you are Tired, you should probably take a step behind to reassess.
  • If you are Scary, you should use it to your advantage because the school needs you.

The Friend

The Friend is most likely young and a recent graduate. Teachers who fall into this category tend to share the narrowest age gap with their students. This means that the teachers and their students share a similar sense of humour, consume similar media, and have more in common.

They tend to play games with their students and share conversations and jokes. In many cases, they might even gossip with their students. These teachers also tend to be more empathetic towards the students because it was not too long before they were in a similar situation.

If you fall into this category, you might feel a bit weird because other colleagues or your seniors might view you as not one of the teachers.

You might feel that they think of you as lesser or as more childish, and this might make you feel bad. However, remember that it is not a curse but rather a strength. As a rather young teacher, you possess the ability to truly reach your students. If you totally embrace it and inject your personality into your classes, it will make your lessons feel fresh, and your students will be less likely to feel bored.

On top of that, they will be more likely to think of you as a friend, and as such, will be more likely to cooperate with you. Also, it helps to know the things students are into as you might also be able to use it to your advantage. Not that it is a must or anything, but if you care about your students, you might also like the fact that students might be more willing to talk to you about their problems if you fall into this category.

The Parent

The Parent is most likely quite old and has a child or two of their own. Teachers who fall into this category tend to have a warm presence and a trustworthy persona.

They remind students of their parents, for better or for worse. They are full of love but can also scold their students. Students can be extremely attached to them but also feel rebellious sometimes. You get the point. They do not hesitate to hug and comfort their students who are feeling down.

You can bet that they are the proudest person in the room when their student does well, maybe even if their parents are present in the room. They will stay awake, thinking of ways to help their students and cry when their students will have to leave them.

If you fall into this category, you are a caring teacher for sure, but make sure to keep your emotions in check sometimes.

A potential negative aspect of being The Parent is that your students might not appreciate you now as much as they will in the future. This is what happened to my friends and me.

A couple of teachers did not appreciate us during our school life, but now, looking back, we realize just how caring and loving they were.

The Tired

I guess this is more of a phase than a type. Teachers who fall into this category tend to be falling asleep in meetings and sometimes, even in class.

They will have a cup of coffee on the one hand and a bunch of ungraded assignments on the other. Besides appearing tired, they might also be more prone to lashing out at students, getting panic attacks, or might even start crying in class.

There can be several reasons for this. They could have been busy or lazy before and now have all this work they must deal with. What many often forget that teachers’ jobs do not just begin and end in class. They have many other responsibilities to attend to, and all the homework and classwork students have done also need marking and correcting.

It is also possible that those teachers are not interested in teaching at all. The most likely is that, as with any job, they might just be burnt out. Doing the same job daily for a long period can drive anyone crazy, let alone a teacher who must deal with several different types of children all the time.

If you fall into this category, I will have some suggestions depending on your issue. If it is due to earlier procrastination, the advice would be to practice your time management skills.

Do the grading or checking as soon as you can instead of pushing them for later. If you are burnt out, you probably need a vacation or something fun to do at the weekends or after work.

Teaching is an important job, and your students need you to be fresh to do your job properly. Lastly, if it is due to you not liking your job, it depends on many factors in your life, but I would say that you should probably do something you like.

Teaching is great, but you are not doing anyone any favour if you hate every day of your job and your students are hating your class or are not benefiting from it. Again, it depends on many things, and I am no expert and no one to be telling anyone that they should quit or anything, but it is just my opinion on this matter.

The Scary

The Scary is, as the name suggests, the teacher that most students are afraid of. Teachers who fall into this category tend to have something about them that is frightening, often to other teachers.

Some scary teachers are not strict with their rules at all. It is just their personality or voice that is enough to frighten anyone in their path. For others, they do not look scary or anything, but it is their rules, how strict they are, and how quick they are to deliver consequences to breaking those rules that are petrifying. Of course, if any teachers are both of those things, then…

Anyways, if you fall into this category, you are in an interesting position. Perhaps you hate it and want to be seen as a loving or fun teacher. Perhaps you love it. Maybe you do not care. In any case, you have choices.

You can use other students’ fear of you to your advantage. It is your presence that can bring even the rowdiest students to sitting quietly in their seats. That is a huge power that other teachers can only dream of. You might not be the students’ favourite, but you can be your colleagues’ favourite this way.

On the other hand, if you view this ability as a curse, you should probably start trying to lighten up the mood. You can start or end your class with a small joke and generally try to put a light atmosphere in your class. In fact, if you can somehow give the class a warm atmosphere and be scary when needed, that is the best combination.

Some Bonus Types

The above types are the ones I have decided to talk about in detail, but again, there are many more that one can write or even think about. I will end this article listing some bonus ones:

The Energetic: If you are this teacher, your energy knows no bounds. This can be great because you can influence and rub off your energy onto even the laziest student.

The Arrogant: If you are this teacher, you should keep in mind that even students can have a lot to teach us. Plus, we are way older than our students, so there is no need to act high and

The Complainer: If you are this teacher, you are annoying some people and providing great entertainment for others.

Again, this article is not meant to demean any of the teachers, and I hold the utmost respect to all the teachers. I am expressing my personal view about what I think about different types of teachers, and see if we belong to any of them.

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This article was originally published on July 6, 2021 and was last updated on October 26, 2021.

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