On Teaching

What does it mean to be a teacher?

Are we simply supposed to make sure that certain information is disseminated and mastered? Are we sources or conduits of knowledge that need to be tapped? If so, why is it that we remember so little detail from specific courses? If we are simply information sources, why not replace us with software or “Dummies Guide To….” books?

Are we supposed to shape minds? To change lives? If so, what are we supposed to shape them or change them into? Ourselves? Why?

I’m still searching for the answers to these questions. I feel called to teaching. I enjoy entering a class and discussing big ideas. I don’t like it when students treat my class as just another thing to get through: When they come unprepared, when they put their heads on their desks and fall asleep, when they don’t attempt to engage. I love it when minds enter the dance of words and conversations about what it means to be human. I love it when my ideas and the ideas of the ages encounter a student’s fresh perspective and where we all become the students.

I told my students this year that I’d rather they didn’t think of me as the wise old man who had been there and would tell them what it was like. Instead, I asked them to think of me as a mountain guide on a trek. I have been up the mountain before, but I haven’t tried all of the paths we’re going to use, and so, I will teach, but I will also walk beside. I will instruct, but I will also learn.