Teaching and Being Taught

What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches. - Karl Menninger.

Who inspires you and why? Who do you inspire and teach and why do you think others listen? To learn facts, one can read and memorise them. To remember and use them in context of your life, how a teacher presents those facts, where they have meaning and value to you is what lights the spark within you to do something with them. Everyone teaches in some way. I maintain my son is my best teacher. Does he have more knowledge than me? In some cases, yes. How does he teach me? By the way he lives life. We are all teachers. Whether educators, leaders, parents, children, mentors, coaches, we teach others in some way. It could be facts or ways of being. Teaching another is showing them what life is all about and helping them find their place in it. A great teacher helps the learners get past that which blocks them….to get past fears and inhibitions and fly. A teacher sows the seed of possibility in another’s mind in order for them to take that seed and grow something with it. The best kind of teachers places themselves into the shoes of the student….to listen for what they don’t already know or for new ways of being. Then the teacher becomes a partner with the learner rather than only leader and in those instances both evolve.

The teacher nourishes, feeds the sense of possibility until the students take over and nurtures ideas and skills and finds their niche in the world. Life-changing teachers zero in on the reality of what is and helps the students get past the false barriers.

Who are you teaching and how? Are you sharing the seeds of ideas and letting your students free to find their own way in the world? A teacher's purpose is not to create clones of themselves, but to help others develop so they can create their unique place in life.

Teaching should be full of ideas instead of crammed with facts. How will you lead others to find their own life purpose, not a copy of your own?

Best…
Donna Karlin