You are only
young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely.
- Ogden Nash
In Praise of Our Teachers
Teaching is a moral and sacred act. I think the characteristics of a good
teacher begin with genuine respect for the students mind. That respect
conveys to students that they can take themselves seriously. Next to that, I
think, is a real love for the young and joy in seeing them grow and develop.
Next to that is a passion for the discipline, but if you lack respect for the
young mind and the love of young people, you won't be able to communicate it
very well. We can teach people to be good teachers up to a relatively high degree,
but I think teaching is also a talent. The really great teachers have this kind
of X-ray vision that allows them to look at a young person and see right into
that important intersection of emotion and intellect and see how to harness
that emotional energy and intellectual effort and bring it to fruition. And
that is a kind of X-ray vision that can't be taught. You either have it or you
don't.
Jil Ker Conway, In Praise of Our Teachers, edited by Gloria Wade
Gayles
http://www.beacon.org/sp03cat/wadegayles.html
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