The Art of Teaching

Recently our five-year-old neighbor asked me why my kids don’t go to school. I explained to her that they were homeschooled. She asked, “So you’re their teacher?” “Yes,” I replied, somewhat hesitantly. “That’s just weird,” she shot back, shaking her head in disbelief.

As I thought about it more, I realized why I was hesitant in my reply. It wasn’t for fear of her reaction, it was more because I don’t really feel like their teacher. Really, I feel like they teach themselves, and Tony and I are just there to sort of help them along as they have questions. But that answer seemed, so…well…weird. According to the standards that I know of a teacher, I don’t match up. I don’t do things by the book. I don’t have set standards or curriculum. My methods are ever-shifting and ever-broadening, and I look so little like what I’ve always thought a teacher should look like.

I read a book recently called Walking On Water that made me feel normal. It put words to the feelings I have for how I want to educate my children. It made me excited to see clearly defined the teacher I dream of being.

Let me just say, I never dreamed that I would be a teacher. Even though my family history is dotted with all sorts of amazing professional educators, I never saw myself following in those footsteps. I didn’t choose a degree in education, and the thought of standing in front of a classroom makes me weak in the knees. However, life has given me several opportunities to teach, and I would argue, that all of us are teachers in some capacity or another. We teach our children. We teach our peers. We teach our co-workers. We teach by mentoring those a bit younger than us. We all teach. Some of us are just better at teaching than others. And this book really inspired me to want to be a good teacher.

Let me share some quotes which come from Walking on Water, unless otherwise noted:

The only real job of any teacher, especially a writing teacher, is to help students find themselves.

The only real learning is self-discovered, self-appropriated learning, I won’t try to teach you anything. It’s my job to create an atmosphere where you can teach yourself.

A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary. ―Dorothy Canfield Fisher

I long to do this for my own children. To be the kind of teacher who does not give answers, but who instead asks the right questions. I long to give them space to teach themselves, to wrestle with themselves, with other humans and with God. To say to them as Jensen said in his book:

It will be very hard. You’ll make a million mistakes and you’ll pay for them…But the hard parts will be your hard parts, they won’t be hard parts other people have imposed on you for their reasons. And your ownership of them…makes all the difference in the world.

I also long to give them plenty of time to chase down their passions. Sometimes in English in high school I would have loved to spend another hour discussing The Count of Monte Cristo, but the bell would ring, and I would have to move onto Math Class or World History or Gym. This is a great quote about the luxury of time:

We need to not be governed by external schedules…not told what and when we need to learn, nor what we need to express, but instead we need to be given time, not as a constraint, but as a gift in a supportive place where we can explore what we want and who we are, with the assistance of others who care about us also.

I also believe that teaching is made easier when our hearts and minds are trained to tune into the voice of God, to accept the help of His Spirit. I think there is a spiritual directing that can take place in our lives, and when we learn to trust God and let go of the fear of doing things the way everyone else is doing them, a whole world of possibilities is open to us.

Unquestioned assumptions frame our choices. If we wish to make different choices we must smash the frames that constrain us.

…Mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good. - Galatians 5:24

I’m learning to think of teaching in a new light, in the light of what I feel God calling me towards, directly relating to the responsibility I have of raising Zoe, Charis, Nehemiah and Luther Steward. That’s a unique calling and opportunity for only me (and Tony) and I long to teach them to the best of my ability.

If you found this post helpful, I have expanded it into an e-book which is available HERE.