What should teachers know?

Interviewed in the Spring 2006 edition of It's for teachers magazine [website], and asked "What should English teachers know to be good at their jobs?", Melanie Williams answers:

They should know about the language they are teaching, they should know some different ways of teaching language, they should know about learners and how they learn. They need to know about lesson planning and how to manage the classroom to make learning as efficient and effective as possible (...) and they need to know about resources and materials they can use in class.

In the same piece, her colleague Mary Spratt adds:

"Knowing how to have an open mind and a willingness to learn are very important, too."

From many years of experience in English language teaching, I can say that I wholly agree with all of that -- if anything particularly with the addition Mary Spratt makes.

What about technology?
Technology doesn't get a mention -- and I think it should.

Assuming that technology does make your life easier (for example to find materials, to store them...); assuming that it is used to its full potential, in order for your learners to communicate... then I think you should know how to use technology.

It it doesn't, forget it -- let's not bother adding it to the list.