by Mr. Michael Teversham
It’s a question that is becoming increasingly commonplace in the classroom. Like learning is some sort of punishment. That one can only take so much – if I gain another iota of newfound knowledge, I’m going to explode!
The reflex response might be to chastise. “Do you know how lucky…blah, blah, blah.” Or maybe you crack open that Mr. Keating speech you’ve been hanging onto that will have them reciting poetry in secret in no time at all. Never mind that you teach physics.
The answer is simple. You are a teacher, a profession that is as much about gaining knowledge than it is about imparting it. Use that example.
As a young hockey fan, I remember hearing that Wayne Gretzky, (the Wayne Gretzky of my generation) was always the first to arrive at practice and the last to leave. He would spend his summer travelling to Russia and Finland studying training techniques that went against the North American standard. I could never figure out why he spent so time practicing, so much effort to improve – wasn’t he already the greatest hockey player in the world? Ever? When asked, Gretzky’s answer was simple. Learning, no matter how good you are, is an ongoing experience.
Those looking for a career in teaching – or in anything for that matter – might want to adopt a similar approach. To be the best teacher, one must be prepared for and excited about a job that is as much about learning as it is about teaching. Because learning doesn’t stop when you get your qualifications.
Sure it’s important to know your curriculum. But teaching is more than just facts and figures. For every specific lesson there is a different school, a different class and a different student. Rarely will each react and respond in the same way. Teachers need to be prepared for a certain amount of unpredictability and a lot of running uphill. A willingness and expectation to keep learning, to keep improving, will make the run a lot easier.
In a world where technology is growing faster than my bald spot, this isn’t always easy. Especially for old school folk like me. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve puffed out my chest, proud to have semi-mastered an app, a system or a machine, only to have it deemed obsolete, antiquated or uncool. And as painful as it is, sometimes you need to throw away all that hard-earned learning and start from scratch, because the next innovation might just be that much better, that much easier and that much more effective.
And, of course, it might not. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how well I can talk the talk or walk the walk. Sometime the latest and the greatest doesn’t make the teaching any better. And this speaks to the heart of learning. It’s as much about self-discovery as anything. Knowing what works for you in your classroom is just as valuable as the latest cover article in Pedagogy Today. What part of your personality helps communicate with students, what part should be left out of the classroom? It’s an elaborate equation that changes as students change, and as teachers change. Teachers need to be flexible, and when necessary, innovative, ready to either turn up the volume to eleven or to step outside their personal box. This learning might be the most important of all.
So how do you respond when confronted with the question – “do we have to learn today?”
When a teacher is good he is able to communicate the value of learning. When he is great he is able to inspire a love of learning. And that may or not have to do with all the latest and the greatest teaching techniques, it may have nothing to do with educational theory or any self discovery. It might simply be about passion.
Of all Mr. Gretzky’s outstanding qualities, his passion may have contributed most to his standing out in a crowd. It’s why he showed up early and left late. Why he never wanted to stop learning. A teacher who is passionate about his job will also want to keep learning. And that can’t help but rub off on his students.
Michael Teversham is a Social Sciences teacher at Bnei Akiva Schools
