Purpose of Teaching

So, I've been asked to provide answers to the following questions:

1. Why do we teach?
2. What is the difference between school "work" and student "learning"?
3. What makes for good teaching

To answer the first question, I believe we teach because it is an innate quality among human beings. Most people love to learn and experience new things and are so willing to be taught everything. Teaching enables us to broaden our horizons and be more open-minded to everything taking place in our world. We teach because it gives us a sense of higher knowledge and then when we communicate that knowledge to those uninformed, we are given a sense of pleasure and excitement knowing that we contributed to a person's learning process. There are no limitations on acquiring knowledge or teaching, which makes both learning and teaching fun. Teaching is, in itself, a learning process; when we are the educators passing on our knowledge to others, we have no way of preparing ourselves for the questions they will ask. Thus, we have to anticipate, as teachers/educators, the variety of people we are educating and that each individual learns differently. We should be prepared to answer any questions they are willing to ask us and always have an answer--even if it is a simple, "I don't know, but I can get back to you on that." Teaching is a part of a person's development. growing process. We base everything in life on what we learn, which is a never-ending process; for every day is a new lesson, we just have to take advantage of that opportunity to learn.

There are some similarities yet very big differences between school "work" and a student's "learning." It is only natural to assume that when we are assigned homework, the sole purpose of it is to take something away from it--learn from it. But, over the years, I have definitely noticed that some people abuse this privilege and feel obligated to finish their homework, instead of looking at it as a learning opportunity. A student's work should be completed as a task, yet not just to obey the teacher, but also for that individual's own benefit. Homework requires students to take a new objective/idea and ponder it, see what impact it has on their own life, and what it enables them to do with that information. Can they use it in their daily lives? Does it affect how they think or feel on a regular basis? Sometimes work is taken for its face value and nothing more. People do (or don't do) their homework to satisfy the teacher, or to just get it completed and move on with their day. But they don't realize that by not regarding their work as a learning opportunity, they are then forfeiting their chance to be a wise, knowledgeable person.

There are many aspects to good teaching. In fact, if you think about the good teachers (even some of the bad ones), and really thought about what made them such effective teachers, you would probably notice that each teacher had their own strategies of teaching. Some stategies perhaps contrast with others; but in the end, what matters is that they got through to you and had such an impact on you that, perhaps, you hope to incorporate some of their strategies into your own teaching. Some dimensions of teaching that I think are crucial are: caring, bonding/relationships, respect, discipline or sense of authority, creativity/fun, and a child-based curriculum.

Teachers have to care about their students and the process with which they acquire knowledge. Educators must know in depth about the child's family background. By doing so, the teacher is enabling him/herself to learn what makes the child "tick," if you will; what drives the student to behave or learn in a particular way. Connecting with the students, but keeping your distance and not being a student's best friend, will make for an effective classroom. There has to be a mutual respect and understanding about the rules of the classroom and what is going to be taking place, education-wise, in there. Teachers should be creative, because it allows students to think "outside the box" and have more fun in their learning. Creativity and fun evokes excitement to learn within the student. The more excited a student is to learn, the more apt they will be involved in the classroom activities, and the more successful and knowledgeable they will be in the future. Having a curriculum which is focused around the students is important. By creating activities that are appealing to the students--ones in which students will really enjoy partaking and being involved--you are thus setting yourself and the students up for an effective learing environment. It is also important that students understand the content of your material, or what it is you are trying to teach. At a certain age students begin questioning the purpose of the material or if it will ever be significant to their own lives; depending on the answer with which you provide them, it could have an everlasting effect on their lives. If they understand that the material is critical to their overall knowledge then they will use this knowledge effectively. On the contrary, if a student does not understand how the material can be applied to his/her own life, then the passion for learning is dissolved. That is why it is important for you, as a teacher, to take the material and apply it to the life of your students so they recognize its purpose in everyday-life. It is very hard to motivate students to learn; it is nothing you can force upon them.