Knowledge Is PowerKnowledge Is PowerThe biggest mistake we make in America is not instilling in all kids from day one what an absolute joy it is to learn. I'm grateful to my parents every day for sharing that love with me. I discover that I am a better educator when I am also a student -- and the absolute pleasure of going to class just to learn, not for a grade, is phenomenal!
I've been teaching since I was in 6th grade, at least. At that age, I taught a continuing education class to first through 3rd graders...just an arts-and-crafts type class, but it was teaching, none-the-less. We made collages and papier mache and all the usual stuff, and had a ball. Starting in junior high, I taught chocolate making classes to peers and adults alike. In high school, I was given a student tech position on stage crew, which made me responsible for showing less experienced techies the ropes, so to speak. My mother is a professor. My father is a professor. My grandmother was a teacher...it's definitely in my blood.
I believe there is some aspect of the innate ability to teach that comes in to play for good teachers...it can't simply be a love of your craft or subject. You need to have the ability to share what you know and open eyes and hearts and minds to your subject. There is, of course, much more to it than that, but I'm convinced that if you don't have that real spark to start, you'll never be a "great" teacher...possibly a good teacher, technically speaking. It's like the difference between someone who can play the piano well and someone who is a concert virtuoso.
There is far too much bureaucracy in the American school system, in my opinion. Having fallen victim to it, I'm a bit bitter on the subject. It never ceases to amaze me how many special interest stories are on the air these days about this exceptional school program or that one, which is having unheard of results in X, Y, or Z community, and yet, the mainstream system rarely moves towards those "new," "experimental" techniques...which, by the way, usually means good, old fashioned technique used more carefully and concisely. It is imperative that we stop moving students through the system without their basic skills. If a student has not accomplished the basics, there is a failure not on the part of the child, but on the part of the system and the family. (Don't EVEN get me started on the irresponsibility of many parents towards their children's education!)
Teaching is an underappreciated, underpaid, overwhelming job. Young students spend more waking time each day with a teacher than with a parent, these days. It's a simple equation...what piece of the puzzle are we missing?