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I want to begin by saying that
curriculum is important and every teacher must teach what is required
with diligence and care. This I have done, if government exams are the
yardsticks for measuring teacher efficiency. However, I would be
willing to stake my career on the fact that my students will remember
my classes more for the fun times, the unique and often unexpected
happenings that result in a few hilarious blips that build wonderful
lifetime memories. I certainly remember them - and the students who
orchestrated the events.
Teaching is a fascinating challenge
because it really isn’t about teaching at all. It’s about
learning – there’s another person involved in all of this. If you
ever watch Peter Pan you get to see this issue highlighted when Peter
tries to teach Wendy and her brothers to fly. Flying is so
completely second nature to Peter that describing the process is
impossible for him. Fortunately there’s some pixie dust that
fixes everything. In the process of teaching and learning, we’re
always looking for this pixie dust. Teaching becomes the art in
which we try to re-create Tinkerbell. I love this process, this
continual invention of a means toward understanding.
I always love who I am when I am
teaching. There are only a few places that “me” comes out – the
“me” most people don’t get to see. My family sees “me” as a daughter, a
wife and a mother and they have to see “me” not only at my best, but at
my very worst. They see the “me” that yells at the neighbour’s
cat for depositing her fortune in my veggie patch, the “me” that loses
patience, and the “me” that gets tired. They see the “me” that
sometimes wants to run away and be a magician.
There is another expression of “me”,
though. The “me” that comes out in the classroom. This “me”
sings and dances. This “me” is confident and uses big words – some of
them made up and some of them real – this “me” is animated and
sometimes people laugh at her jokes. Most of all, this “me” gets
to make stories that attempt to explain concepts, structures and ideas
to people, from children to adults. This “me” gets to look for
that elusive pixie dust.
In addition to the things that I get to
do and the person that I get to be, I work within a pretty amazing
place. As I was trying to write this, I overheard a colleague
asking another about the difference between “The chair’s heavy, isn’t
it?” and “The chair’s heavy, is it? and I began to think about how I’m
going to explain this to my class tomorrow.
Perhaps the greatest influences in my
life that have driven me to teach have been my own teachers, both in
and out of classrooms. These teachers have been vitally important
to me; and these are the people who are the model for everything that I
want to be as a teacher.
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