The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. ~William Arthur Ward
Being a teacher is a humbling thing. It entails many responsibilities, from planning the day, finding strategies to present a lesson, to implementing the lesson, managing a class, recording data and getting ready for the next school day, and yet the next year ahead.
Any sensible person aspires to inspire, no matter what. When a person feels that he has failed in so doing, depression sets in. At least this is what happens to me.
But as Thomas Edison has demonstrated, "Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration."
I believe teachers inspire when they are willing to perspire.
The work of a teacher does not only entail the mechanics of his profession. As John O'Donohue says "Functionalism is lethal when it is not balanced by a sense of reverence. Without reverence, there is no sense of presence or wonder. " Side by side with the planning on our working schedule, there must be time to prepare for the human factors of our job - the teacher (oneself), the environment, the child and the community.
Before one can tackle the rigors of the teaching day, the teacher must prepare oneself mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually before he/she can aspire to inspire.
Let me end this entry with a quote from Maria Montessori:
The training of the teacher is something far more than a learning of ideas. It includes the training of character; it is a preparation of the spirit.
- Maria Montessori
Being a teacher is a humbling thing. It entails many responsibilities, from planning the day, finding strategies to present a lesson, to implementing the lesson, managing a class, recording data and getting ready for the next school day, and yet the next year ahead.
Any sensible person aspires to inspire, no matter what. When a person feels that he has failed in so doing, depression sets in. At least this is what happens to me.
But as Thomas Edison has demonstrated, "Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration."
I believe teachers inspire when they are willing to perspire.
The work of a teacher does not only entail the mechanics of his profession. As John O'Donohue says "Functionalism is lethal when it is not balanced by a sense of reverence. Without reverence, there is no sense of presence or wonder. " Side by side with the planning on our working schedule, there must be time to prepare for the human factors of our job - the teacher (oneself), the environment, the child and the community.
Before one can tackle the rigors of the teaching day, the teacher must prepare oneself mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually before he/she can aspire to inspire.
Let me end this entry with a quote from Maria Montessori:
The training of the teacher is something far more than a learning of ideas. It includes the training of character; it is a preparation of the spirit.
- Maria Montessori
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