its all in the desire to learn

One of the best teachers during my high school years was my Grade 12 English teacher. No matter what she may have been going through in her personal life, she always arrived to class with a bounce and a cheeky determination to open a book to learning. You could tell that she loved to learn because she always shared her own discoveries with us. Her key motivation shone through. She wanted to show us that learning expanded worlds, that literature broadened thinking, that even in an initially perceived dry Shakesperean play, one could find the naughty bits to liven the learning up!

My favourite University professor taught Psychology. He taught it by interacting with us.......a class of over 100 students. He interacted by sharing his love of learning, by allowing us to know more about his other passions besides what was in the textbook. He introduced the class to Amnesty International by reading stories of imprisoned people in another corner of the world. He was a master at weaving current events with old psychological theory. His assignments were all "position papers," where we had to read an assigned journal article, but then develop our own angle, our own critical analysis of it. This was first year university.........and we were respected and requested to THINK on our own. This wonderful man, who knew everyone by their first name continues to teach in his 80's. He continues because he has more he wants to learn.

Excellent teachers have a passion for learning. Teaching isn't effective unless learning takes the lead. Perhaps the best teachers find the gumption to teach what they are learning themselves. They teach to learn............experimenting, caring, sharing, highlighting, guiding, with enthusiasm.

I wonder if this is discussed in the Education classrooms at university? Somehow, I think it gets lost in between writing pristine lesson plans and memorizing Bloom's taxonomy of learning. What a damn shame.

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates.The great teacher inspires.
--William Arthur Ward