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Today's
quotation:
True
teachers are those who
use themselves as bridges over
which they invite their students
to cross; then, having
facilitated
their crossing, joyfully collapse,
encouraging
them to
create their own.
Nikos
Kazantzakis
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Today's
Meditation:
It's
very difficult being a teacher in a society that expects
all students to have the same outcomes, the same knowledge
base, the same skill sets. Teachers should be people
who inspire their students to become themselves, to pursue
their unique goals using their unique abilities;
unfortunately, we don't seem to want teachers to be
bridges that students can cross over, but robots who are
to treat all students the same while giving them all the
exact same material in the exact same doses.
If we
want to teach, we need to let go of the need to see
results that we expect, and embrace results that are
unique to the human beings with whom we're working.
I don't want my students to become like me or know exactly
what I know-- I want them to forge their own paths and make
their own discoveries, and I sincerely hope that they find
many things that I've missed. I can help them to get
to the new things that they might not have discovered
without a bit of help, but once I do that then they should
be on their own, or at least moving on to another teacher
who can help them in ways that are different from the ways
I can help.
Teaching
is about letting go, though unfortunately many teachers
see it as an exercise in control. It's not about
control at all, though, except possibly in a classroom
management sense-- it's about lighting a fire and then
letting the candle burn in whatever way is best for the
candle, not in the way I want it to burn.
We've
all learned some wonderful things in our lives, and it's
up to us to pass those on to others, becoming teachers
even though our vocation may be something else. When
we teach, though, we need to be respectful of the people
whom we're trying to teach. We need to let them be
themselves and to deal with what we're teaching on their
own terms. Even if they reject it, that's okay--
they're probably just not ready yet to learn
it. Let us become a bridge, and not build walls that
keep them from seeing further, beyond us. They need
to see there.
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