Teachability

Over the last few years I've been slowly working on my ability to impart knowledge to others. Some people call that teaching, but semantics aren't important at this juncture in time. I realized that I'm simply not a very good teacher. Ok, I'm a decent teacher. But nowhere near the standard to which I normally hold myself. I've always been scared to teach children because I realize just how much sway a teacher holds in a child's life, and frankly I didn't really trust myself with that power. Over the past few months, I've really worked at being able to explain how I can do things to other people. I get easily frustrated when kids don't pick up on concepts quickly, and I realized it's because I get frustrated with myself when I do the same.

Yesterday I had a struggle with a 10-year-old who just didn't seem to grasp what I was telling him, no matter how I explained it. I realized that sometimes vocabulary can be a stumbling-block when attempting to simplify meanings. A kid that doesn't understand one polysyllabic word isn't necessarily going to understand it when one explains it using another polysyllabic word. It definitely didn't help that the boy wasn't really listening to my explanations. I was finally able to help him out by slowly walking him through each precept, but my frustration level was way above where it should have been. It was a great learning experience, and it's one I can definitely use going forward, but it's not something I want to have to repeat. Hopefully I can continue to hone my teaching skills while continuing to learn.