So many things make a teacher great, and everyone has the ability and opportunity to teach! The first is that we immerse the students and ourselves in learning experiences! Taking the time to allow the student to learn information in a meaningful way that creates and establishes connections. Did you know that the least effective teaching model is rote learning, lecture-based? Therefore, these are fundamental truths; if you want to teach a person to speak, speak to them. Use language meaningfully, consider yourself the broadcaster at the football game, and each word is a connection to an experience! If you want to teach a child to read, read to them. Let them see you reading! If you want a child to learn about climate change, take them to the forest and teach them why these systems are critical to our earth! If you want to teach a child to cook, get in the kitchen and cook with them! The best way to retain critical information and store it in our brains for later retrieval is to experience the experiences! Not to hear someone talking about the experiences!
Albert Einstein was considered a genius who despised rote learning and, even in certain circumstances, was considered a “problem” student! A brilliant genius knew that rote learning was, for the most part, ineffective. When I am listening to a lecture, I take notes; if I have to be forced to endure the rote portion, I find a way to immerse myself in it. I doodle while I listen, and it creates connections!
Great teachers love learning and crave it! They don’t ever stop learning and growing! Great teachers know that “education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire!” William Butler Yeats. William was not an educator. William was a writer, poet, and politician but knew enough to educate us on what makes a superior educator and teacher! The ability to inspire people! Everyone can inspire and teach; it can be a singularly moving and thoughtful experience.
Forest of Words 