What is Teaching?

Teaching is an interesting topic.  It begins with a thought, progresses through actions, and leads to imparting knowledge, instructions, and wisdom.  We start with some information to share, proceed to actions which can include preparation, discussions, research, and finally reach the point where some of this original information manages to lodge itself into the mind of the student.

To me, teaching is an art form.  Everyone has a different style, some of which can be categorized, and the final product is still left to the student to interpret.  Some explanation can occur, but things are still largely influenced by the past experiences and previous knowledge that brought the student to that point in the first place.

And if teaching is a form of art, learning is a form of appreciation.  What we appreciate - what we enjoy - stays with us.  We appreciate not just the art the teacher gives us, but time that goes into it.  And like the true masters of art, the best teachers are appreciated the most by their students.

Teaching, therefore, should be a work of love and heart.  We teach because we love.  We love our students, we love the subject matter, and we love making a difference.  The learners are then able to feel the love the teacher has for all of this and it gives them hope and confidence, as well as a feeling of security.  My favorite teachers growing up were the ones I felt I could trust.

This coincides greatly with some of the things I have learned about being an effective teacher.  Simple things like "please" and "thank you" and smiling should be obvious, and yet I remember teachers who did not do that, who always sounded like they were ordering us to do something.  The teachers who were kind were always more respected.  The militant teachers might have silence, but students often hated them.

In contrast, I preferred being in the classrooms of the self-proclaimed "mean" teachers, who were often some of the most polite.  They called themselves the mean ones because they had rules and stuck to them, which was what I preferred.  Interestingly enough, most students feel the same.

It seems to me that, as I study and learn more about teaching, I learn more and more about what kind of teacher I want to be.