Hey Teach!

HEY TEACH!

            All of us are teachers, whether we know it or not. Whether we want to be or not. Whether we like it or not. We teach our kids, our dogs, our friends, we teach ourselves. You teach your kids how to brush their teeth, make their bed with tucked corners, do their laundry without everything turning pink and how to make French Toast. You teach the dog to sit, stay, come, lie down, roll over and play dead when you mention the name of your most-disliked politician. Haha, isn’t that hilarious, you say. “Only took me six months to get him to learn that”.

            A young man taught me to cross-country ski when I was quite old. That takes patience, a necessary teacher virtue. When I got my first computer, another young man taught me how to use it without breaking it. That involved making the information understandable to a person whose knowledge stopped at turning the machine on. A great teacher virtue, knowing your student’s limitations. And a very large, imposing woman taught me to knit, with the ominous statement that if I “threw” my yarn instead of “picking” it, I was not doing it “her” way and would surely go to you-know-where and I wouldn’t be wearing a cable-knit sweater when I got there, either. I think that’s called “teaching by intimidation” and that, also, is sometimes required.      

            I am fortunate in having had many of the best kind of teachers, both in school and out. I still have fond thoughts of my 2^nd grade teacher, Mrs. Stroup. She had beautiful white hair, which she wore upswept in 1940s Victory Rolls like the actress Betty Grable. Second grade was where we really learned to read. I mean read stuff that was interesting and had hard words. And Mrs. Stroup was endlessly patient with us. I recently unearthed a large black and white photograph of a large roomful of little kids excitedly ranged around a large birthday cake, with Mrs. Stroup ready to share it out, smiling at all of us. I smiled back at the picture, thinking what a gift she had given us, teaching us to read anything we wanted.

            Another teacher who was a favorite of mine taught College History. How often do you find yourself looking forward to going to World History class? It wasn’t that he was a big heartthrob or anything, but Mister B liked to provoke us into arguing with each other over historical unsolved questions That was the first time I’d encountered that. You never knew if you were going to defend the wrong side of the War of 1812 or suddenly develop an urge to find out why Catherine the Great was so Great. All of a sudden, I was interested in events that happened long ago and I wanted to find out what were the causes that made them happen. Now, THAT’S a good teacher!        

            As I said, we are all teachers. I didn’t say we are all good at it. Sometimes we lose control of ourselves and go beyond teaching, into the world of lecturing, so that we become a pain in the butt. The word for that situation is being “pedantic”. More often referred to as being a “know-it-all”.

            Here’s a prime example. Tom and I were riding along in a tour bus, winding through small English villages, on our way to visit Hampton Court, hoping that we might glimpse some royal persons. We’d been on the bus for about four hours, but it was beginning to feel like four months. The reason being the man guiding the tours. He wasn’t really teaching or informing us about the day’s travels. He was putting on a performance, enthralled at the sound of his own voice. He was dressed to strut and his little bow tie jumped and jiggled as he waved his arms and shouted out little-known facts about the education, livelihood and other statistics of the people whose lives we were passing through. He never shut up long enough to let us absorb the knowledge he was spewing over us and we came out of it vowing to never, ever go on another tour. Especially if the guide is wearing a bow tie.

            Teaching is the active transferal of knowledge from one person to the next and we all do it and have done it. I have taught work study students how to make an 18^th century boned corset, as if they really needed to know that, right? I’ve taught quilters the easiest way to pick out fabric and color for their quilts and how to machine quilt without running over their fingers. Taught Cub Scouts to make Rice Krispie bars and funny-looking knots. Taught ballet volunteers how to make an 8-piece tutu bodice and dye stage underwear with tea bags.

            Our kids went to The Open School when they were in Junior High. You may not remember, but the students took the regular curriculum and then they could request a subject they would like to learn. The school would go about finding someone in the community to teach them. Mandarin language? Ceramics? How to make a canoe? How to write poetry? Play the zither? Cook Szechwan? It was amazing to find these great resources within the community, proving that we all have knowledge we could pass on to others. Even if it’s only teaching your kids to make French Toast.