First and foremost, I believe an important quality that would qualify for this title would be outstanding patience. One can have a wealth of knowledge yet lack the ability to share this with the learner because they cannot express themselves at learner level, partly because they forget they were once learners themselves and partly because they do not have communication skills. They are easily irritated by the failure of an individual to understand.

As a teacher myself I always try to assess the individual and determine how much he/she is capable of before making a decision on the methodology. We all have to recognise that no two people are alike and each have their own preferences when it comes to learning. For this reason, teachers have to learn to be adaptive and to diversify. However, I have to admit that the organisation I work with limits the class size to eight and therefore it is much easier to manage, although the age range is normally above the retirement bracket. Being 75 years of age myself I can appreciate that it is often much more difficult to absorb new ideas, especially ICT, which is my particular subject and perhaps this is why I tend to be more sympathetic ... and patient. 

Whenever any of my learners express their frustration at not being able to remember everything I have taught them I simply remind them that the grey cells aren't dead, these days they just take a little longer to wake up. I then coax them into believing in themselves ... it has worked wonders! And if you are wondering why you find your Internet connection is slowing down it is probably because so many of my learners have discovered a new lease of life. I'm proud of them all.