The Teacher In All of Us.

As I sat through my boys' music lessons today and I thought about the teachers before them, I looked at their qualities in teaching and was inspired. They truly are good teachers.

One inspired my boy by her love for music, while the other one introduced a concept that with her gentle touch made the medicine go down with a smile from his face. They didn't allow them to sit in a comfortable place where there was nothing required or expected, but at the same time used the love for learning and gentleness to make progress and help them grow.

What makes a good teacher? Homeschooling has forced me to look at this question very personally.

I remember back in high school when we were given our classes at the beginning of the school year. Next to our class would be the room # and the teacher's name who would be teaching that class. We all knew whether that teacher expected excellence or whether we would be passed if we laughed at their jokes. We knew which ones could care less whether we understood the subject and which ones actually loved the subject and wanted to share that passion with each and everyone of us who took the course.

A good teacher inspires. They inspire by example. They love the topic perhaps not because of the content but for the love of learning it. They know it well enough to know more than the student and are brave and humble enough to venture out and learn some more about it. This being because they love to learn.

A good teacher is gentle, kind, long suffering, and patient. I have much to learn in this area of teaching. I'm nice, really I am, but I could be nicer, more patient, and definitely more kind. Would I be a better teacher if the pupils I'm focusing on weren't my own flesh and blood? Would the patience that is needed be more readily available? Probably.

I saw it so clearly today as I watched their teachers teach.

A good teacher expects progress by doing their part. Sometimes we think that the remedy is to go easier on the child. To not require a lot from them but let them get enthused on their own and then try to keep up. As a teacher, this would be the easiest route, but is it the best one for the student? Am I teaching by example? Am I inspiring them by it? Am I challenging them to better themselves, and there by causing them to learn important disciplines in life?

We are all teachers and someone is learning from us. There is a teacher in all of us....and
teaching we are.....

May God lead us as we teach, so the lessons taught will bring forth fruit that God would be pleased at.