By: Hettie Basil Lighttower
Are you a teacher? My mom was a teacher and many of her friends were teachers and many of my friends became teachers. In some ways teachers have it made! They get all the holidays and weekends off, the summers and Christmas vacations off. What a bowl of cherries their life is!
To this day I still run into folks who say, “I had your mom as a first grade teacher! She was my favorite.” And then they would have this great story and memory to share with me about my mom, their teacher. I remember teachers that I had and the special moments of clarity they bestowed through out the years. And I also remember the ones that clashed with my personality or focus level and my motivation to be a better student in that class caved in. From kindergarten to college the right teacher at the right time made all the difference in my life path.
I’m kidding about the bowl of cherries. A good teacher is conscientious about how to connect with each student. That is not a bowl of cherries. A can of worms maybe….no matter what the grade level and ages of the students.
Having a mother who was a teacher was like being in school all the time. She had a hard time turning off that role. I sigh and laugh and remember really challenging days on the inside as I have those thoughts. But as a result I have learned a big gob more than most folks about so many different subjects, not just first grade stuff. I said “a big gob” more just to be rebellious because my mom isn’t here to correct me. I enjoy drawing outside of the lines sometimes, and I don’t always do it on purpose. Sometimes it just happens.
Teachers can make or break a student also known as a person. The right teacher for the right lesson makes all the difference in the world. I have seen it time and time again. Some folks require tutoring because the teacher just isn’t making that connection with the student. It is vital for a teacher to be able to meet the student where they are with compassion and in some cases with much patience. I myself have navigated this terrain as I have been in teaching situations and jobs.
Being a parent is a teaching job. That was one of my teaching situations. But I also am a social worker. I did a job called “parent teaching”. This was teaching parents how to be a parent. Can you believe such a thing has to exist in this world? We literally have to have someone to teach others HOW to parent properly. It is sad. But I am glad the need was acknowledged and is being fulfilled. Not all persons who become parents have had the strong knowledgeable accountable parents that I have had to teach them things the correct and/or safe way to do things. So, my parent teaching position was not solely based on a few social work classes that I may or may not have done well in. Life experience was the core of my rate of high success with these parent-students.
I did not go to college to be a teacher and handle a classroom setting. Most of you probably have not either. But did you know we are ALL TEACHERS? Every interaction we have is teaching someone else about how to or how not to behave or how to or how not to communicate or even how to or how not to handle a problem. We naturally are designed to mirror, imitate and observe. This is a form of learning and a teacher is always present.
We start this as a newborn and continue absorbing through adulthood. We absorb and mirror super heroes on TV. We try to fit in all the time based on what others are doing around us. Ever hear of “keeping up with the Jones’s”? We are all teachers and we are all students. It is a revolving door. It is a life-long behavior. We can even learn from our pets! From nature….. Teaching comes in many forms and we are here to learn. It is obvious to me that life is a classroom, the learning and teaching never ends. It is everywhere. Sometimes we learn big things and some days we learn small detailed things. We are always collecting data and absorbing information. You are learning from me right now. I am learning about myself right now and getting a big reminder of these things and how blatant a “present teacher” is, even if it is just this keyboard. I am learning how fast I can type.
What are we teaching others? What behaviors or reactions or emotions do we exude in situations? Eyes and ears are always learning from us. Often times it is own children or grandchildren. What are we teaching? Have you evaluated yourself lately?
Life learning isn’t all reading, writing and ‘rithmetic. It is mostly connection and the level of compassion in which we make those connections. Are you a good teacher? Are you making your personal world a better place? I trust the answers are YES! and you continue the good example in your teaching. Others are depending on you.
Send in your notions and comments to [email protected]. I will include them in the next available column as per their arrival relative to the publication deadline of Tuesday by 12 p.m. of the same week. If you wish to be anonymous let me know. Kindness is contagious~*