Teaching

I've been looking long and hard for some trick that will make teaching extraordinarily effective. I already wrote that I don't believe there exists any such trick or methodology. I think that teaching and learning comes down to the following: showing up and caring. A teacher that cares about what he does seems to be the most effective of all.

A definition for effective teaching must be general, because of the wide range of teaching styles that are bound to crop up in a field of so many individuals, so many histories. The effectiveness of technique and tools is also impacted by the types of students subject to the technique or using the tools. In short, there are many dynamics at play, arguable too many, for any one technique or tool to work. There are no tricks. There is just showing up and caring.

When you care, you are motivated to observe. You are motivated to observe behavior, mood, what works. You are motivated to know your students. And when you are motivated to know your students, they are motivated to know, too. Not only are they motivated to know, but in the process of being known, much is revealed to them. They find a need to express themselves in another language. They feel the frustration of being inarticulate, of ideas and feeling and desires being mute. Guiding them through this terrain, through this experience, is as essential as guiding them through the material/subject matter.

This can be called "keeping them interested" but I think it is more than that. It is being vigilant of their learning experience and responding to it. Knowing them not just as people, but knowing them as students is essential. Not just what subjects they excel in, but how they handle the variety of experiences related to learning. You have to be able to encourage them when they most need it, and to with hold assistance when they may seem to need it.

Indeed, an art can be made of anything. Teaching is just another trade, some might say. And they wouldn't be wrong. But what one takes away from teaching is unique and it cannot be wrong. It is an experience, and so it is not subject to rules or qualifications.

That said, I enjoy the experience of teaching. I don't mind the problems as much as I mind the solutions, when it comes to teaching. So the experience is good. The experience makes me better, sets a standard for me.

My observations will not always be correct. In fact, they may be rarely correct. One will never know unless they set about the task and pay attention.