How to become a successful teacher

One can choose a job or a career. Now what's the difference between the two? A job is something you do to obtain money to pay every daily need; a career is a passion that is being done not for money, but for the love of the profession. There are two types of teachers, the ones who view teaching as a job and the ones who view teaching as a career; and those who are "workers, have no future." Successful teachers know that "what counts is not the number of hours you put in but how much you put into those hours." In the same way, successful teachers spend every single day trying to impact the life of their students.
Great teachers are professionals and professionals "are the happiest, make the most money, get the most respect, and are the most successful." Now a professional teacher knows how to work in a complex environment by always being "on an endless journey of looking for new and better ideas, new information, and improved skills to succeed with students." The one who chooses to become a teacher, chooses to never stop learning!
http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/what-makes-a-great-teacher/
http://www.couragerenewal.org/parker/writings/good-teaching/
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar93/vol50/num06/Why-Teachers-Must-Become-Change-Agents.aspx