You are what you teach
If I have any expertise to my name, I would say that I am an expert learner. This is not to brag but more to say that I have spent more time in my life learning than anything else. I have been in school longer than any other job I have had, and I am currently a teacher who tends to get new classes to teacher each year. As such, I have to be constantly learning. Thankfully, I enjoy it. I like to figure things out. As a teacher, I’m afraid of the day when I finally do master my class subjects because I’m afraid I’ll become bored of my job. Currently, I really enjoy it.
I have not been trained as a teacher. Most of my work experience is in sales and my education is in business and philosophy. I read a book a while back by Daniel Pink called To Sell is Human. In it, Pink concludes that every human interaction is really a sales interaction. An example that I remember from the book is the interaction between a parent and a child. The parent wants the child to do something, and the child doesn’t want to do it. Pink’s conclusion is that whoever gets their way in this exchange “wins” the sale. Parents, hold out and win. You can do it. I bring this up because selling is all about communication and presenting information in a way that draws someone in. Teaching is also a “sales interaction.” A century ago, John Milton Gregory says that teaching is all about communication. I am curious what Gregory would think of Pink’s book. I think he might like it, though it is simple. Now, I am a teacher at a small, private, classical Christian school that prides itself on not hiring certificated teachers. He has reasons for this that are beyond the scope of this post. Part of the reason though is our headmaster will often say that he would prefer to hire the right kinds of people instead of people who know a subject. Character is harder to teach than a subject.
I would like to think of myself as the right kind of person to be a teacher at my school. In an effort to become a better teacher though, I decided that I would go through John Milton Gregory’s book The Seven Laws of Teaching before the next school term starts. I read this book 5 years ago before I started teaching the first year and I remember enjoying it. I don’t remember much more than that. Each of my next 7 posts will be about a chapter of the book as Gregory teaches me about the seven laws of teaching. I will be looking at them from the perspective of one who is in the trenches and really as one who is just starting out. Our school is by no means old, and I am young teacher. This should be seen from the perspective of one who is trying to patch the boat before it sinks. The boat has been paddling quick, but water has started to seep in. There are things that need to be done in order for the shore to be reached. Feel free to join me as I try to save my boat and hopefully you can save your own at the same time. Maybe I’ll help you avoid some rocks or teach you to patch a hole that you don’t know about. Anyways, welcome. The water is warm. Parents are forgiving, and students are flexible.
To start from the beginning, Gregory starts with the man in the mirror.
The first law is the law of the teacher, which is simply, “The teacher must know that which he would teach” pg. 34.
Now, this might seem like a fairly obvious no-brainer, because it is. Yet the reverse of this statement is also true, that a person teaches what he knows. What does a person know best? Himself. As such, a teacher teaches himself to his student. What kind of person is a teacher? Is he a person that is worth emulating? Should your students want to be like you? Do they? Do their parents want their child to be like you? These are all questions that a teacher should ask himself because the largest lesson that a student is going to learn is what kind of person the teacher is. This is part of the reason why our headmaster would prefer to hire the right kind of people rather than an expert in the field. The right person can learn the field. It may be too late the save the expert from himself. This is a challenge to me. As a teacher, I do think about the person that I am and I also think about the kind of person that I want my students to become. First and foremost, I seek to be like Christ and show Him off to my students. I recognize that I do this imperfectly, yet I see my growth each year. I do not hide my faults but show them in order to help myself grow and to help others to avoid my downfalls. I also try to think about the difference between character and aptitude. All believers are called to be like Christ. Only some a called to be teachers. I do not want all my students to become teachers like me. I see the culture we live in. I see the town that is around me. I want to train my students to go out and do things outside of school. I look at how they are bent and hope to encourage them to go out and do more things. To go beyond the walls of the school.
When it comes to teaching a subject, Gregory talks about the teacher’s mastery of a subject. He would like to see that each teacher is a master of the subject that they are to teach. This is a reasonable requirement for teachers. I have come to notice how helpful this is in my own time of teaching. As I have gotten better in Mathematics, I have learned more of the paths to solve problems. Sometime, a student may stumble upon a way to solve a problem that differs from the book answer yet is still correct. In my earlier years, I did not know what I know now, so I see now that I could have marked answers wrong for having the wrong work with the right answer because the student went down a different path than the book. The journey and the destination matter in Mathematics, yet there are several journeys that work to arrive at the right destination.
In a small school though, this is not always possible to find someone with the character above and the mastery of the subject at the price point of the school. While Gregory does not give any excuses for his teachers, he does talk about how a teacher must be a learner himself and curious about his subject. For a small school, with a teacher that is just starting out, this would be the minimum that I would expect from them. If you think I am prideful for lowering the standard so quickly from a man who is still considered an expert in his field. I don’t do so lightly. I do so seeing my own experience and those around me and know that the right people with blessing from the Lord can grow in the right ways. With curiosity and aptitude to teach, a teacher with the right character will come to master their subject through study and the teaching of it. A person must start on the journey of being a teacher. After that, if they are skilled, it will all follow. A teacher, at any level, must set aside time to study the subjects that they are to teach. Skills get rusty. Knowledge fades. The only way to get these things back is to spend time in the chair.
Do this with enthusiasm. Excitement is contagious. If you enjoy learning about your subject, your students will start to enjoy it too. They will come to learn to love learning if you show them that you love to learn. This may be the greatest lesson that you can give to your students: a love of learning. I could argue in a different post that this is THE JOB of a teacher is to pass on a love of learning. Once a student can get the love, they will no longer need a teacher. They will only need a guide and discipleship. A love of knowledge can easily lead to pride, yet a love of learning shows a humility that you don’t have all the answers and are willing to look as if you don’t.
Along the same lines, Gregory does talk about how a teacher should never fake mastery, trying to appear like he knows his material behind flashy language. From my own experience, student have a keen ability to tell when an adult is faking what they are talking about. Some students enjoy exposing the fake, others take pity upon the teacher, while other simply ignore what is being said. No matter what path the student takes with their teacher, they are sure to know that you don’t know. Instead of trying to fake it, admit your shortcomings and grow along with your students. Go and investigate what you don’t know with them. Learn along the way.
All in all, teaching is a profession that is based upon communication of information to a student. It is the teacher’s job to know himself and his subject and to guide his student along a path that is best for the student, not the teacher. Love the Lord. Love your student. Love your subject. After that, everything will take care of itself. At least for the first chapter of the book.
Stay tune for the next chapter coming in hot.
Gregory, John Milton. The Seven Laws of Teaching. Veritas Press, 2004.