20 ways to discover your strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. Introduction. As a teacher, it is important that you understand the strengths and weaknesses of your teaching methods. This will allow you to learn how to use them more effectively and become a better teacher. Here are 20 ways that you can discover your strengths and weaknesses as a teacher: Plan ahead your lessons. The ability to plan ahead is an important one for any teacher, but it can be particularly crucial for those with multiple classes. A great plan will help you keep your students engaged and on task. It will also let them know that they can trust you as a teacher and that there's no need to worry about what's coming next. Planning ahead gives you the opportunity to organize yourself so that when class starts, everything is ready for them: papers are printed out in advance; handouts are ready; lesson plans have been written out thoroughly. This allows your students more time at their desks working on que...