natural born teachers

02 Dec 2006 9:06 (Edited: 02 Dec 2006 9:06)

One of the things I am enjoying in my class is the discussions. We spend a lot of time having to read serious academic research and articles, writing papers and working on projects. The discussion part of my work is great because the professor poses questions based on the lecture and readings and asks us to post our responses to the discussion threads. Other students then respond to those threads and the discussions are thoughtful, and bring up other issues that are then followed up on. Sometimes the professor will then ask more questions related to those responses. So by the end of each week we have covered a lot of interesting ground. One of those discussions ended up branching into a discussion on what qualities besides all of the formal skills and education make a good teacher. The professor wrote a long interesting response then ended it with this question,

"Sooo....what do you think...is it possible that no matter what some people do...they just ARE teachers? "

I put in my two cents worth.

Oh most definitely! Everyone needs to learn skills and add specific knowledge to be able to work as effectively as possible, but we all know people who are like that. The friend you call when you're trying to figure out something new on your computer or your guitar. The fellow parent that had gone through some of the same issues with his older child that you are going through with yours now. The classmate you always hoped to be paired with for group assignments because you knew she'd help you understand it. And the friend who can always sense how you are feeling and knows just the right thing to do, whether it be to just listen to you talk about what's bothering you in your life till you realize you're a bit less confused about what to do, or if she should give you any advice. It's the friend who is always sending you new links to cool things they found/read/learned on the internet, who is so much fun to be around because you don't just talk about exactly the same things in the same shallow way all the time. It's a combination of empathy, patience, listening and communication skills and a deep down enjoyment of being with others and sharing what you know with them. All of those are elements of a natural teacher. We are lucky to have such people around.

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