Why do we teach?

Why do we teach?
I believe that the reason that we teach is so that we can impact the youth, and future leaders of tomorrow. We help to teach social skills like interacting with others, as well as critical thinking skills that would otherwise be overlooked.

What is the difference between "school work" and "student learning"?
I believe that there is a huge difference between these two terms. The first implies retaining facts and mentally vomiting them onto an assignment or test at a later date. Student learning, however, is gaining the knowledge and then learning how to apply that knowledge to something in a real-life situation. Student learning requires more than just school work. It requires that we try to keep the students motivated and maybe set the standard just a little out of their reach, lest their work become boring and unfruitful in the end.

What makes for a good teacher?
There are countless things that go into becoming a good teacher. The most important, I believe, is flexibility. Flexibility ties into all aspects of teaching, from energy in the classroom, to assessing your own teaching ability. We must have enough confidence in ourselves to be able to step outside of the safety of the textbook once in a while. We must be flexible in our teaching for our students benefit. No one lesson plan will work for 35 years in a row. We must adapt to the individual needs of each class. A good teacher also used all available means for education in his or her classroom. The teachers that we remember are the ones that made learning fun, either by using technology or just a fun illustration to accompany a lesson. We must be able to follow the ideas that are tried and true, but be able to come up with our own occasionally. We must be willing to break the routine of the school day. Let's face it, kids get bored going from class to class with every period being more boring than the last. We want them to want to be in our classroom, and to do that we must be different, and we must care. Caring is the basis of a good teacher. Be willing to stay after class to help a student, and they will love you for it. Think about what is best for their learning, and you will be a good teacher.