Are you a born teacher?

I’m a born teacher. I teach people around me about a variety of subjects: reading, computers, fitness… I’m pretty good at it too. I do it when people ask for it and when they don’t. If teachers were compensated better for their work, it’s what I would do with my life.

I am going to school to teach preschool and I already substitute.

I wouldn’t say I was born a teacher. Most of my life I was really shy and didn’t like talking in front of people. I would say I was born with patience though..which is definitely a must for working with 3–5 year olds!

Yes, I homeschooled my sons and grandsons much of the time. I find teaching comes very natural to me.

I think I was. I got interested in science at a young age because I liked the idea of being able to discover new things and more than that, to then be able to go out and tell people about what I discovered. I want to do something that is important enough that I can learn something new, that has never been known before, and then go and tell people about it. I think that’s why I got into meteorology and atmospheric science. I mean, right now, I am in Antarctica making measurements of the ozone hole. I’m here. I can tell you if it is getting better, worse, or staying the same (getting slightly better) This is big deal stuff. Everyone knows about the ozone hole and climate change and all these world changing things that I can study. But the thing I like more than studying these things is being able to tell people about them. What good is the information if we can’t convey our messages to others?

I often think I would be a really good high school physics and earth science teacher. Sure, the stuff I’d be teaching isn’t considered “ground breaking”, well, at least not anymore. But to the kids I’d be teaching, it is. Doing experiments and making hypotheses, this is the fruit of my life, and I’d love to be able to share that with other people and see, if just on only a small portion of my class, their faces light up when they finally understand something.

I also think I’d be good as a science adviser in Washington, or something like that. The problem I see is that there are the scientists who have all the information, and the politicians who need the information. I think I’d be a good bridge between the two. I understand the scientific lingo and mumbo jumbo, but I could also bring it down so that it is understandable and meaningful to the public.

Now, if only I could find a job…
Done. Whew.

I believe I’m a born teacher. I have an ability to communicate some pretty technical stuff (even in fields that are not “technical”) and translate it to everyday language. I have a pretty good understanding of technical terms in many fields, all self-taught. I do not, however, attempt to practice medicine.

No, not at all. I’m in school to be a teacher, and quite honestly it terrifies me a little.

I’m a born teacher and a lifelong student, too. I can teach you about the things I love, like spiders and bugs, nature and gardening, and cooking, and making seriously scary Halloween decorations. I am a student as I am endlessly curious about things, and love to study and research the things that I enjoy, like the things listed above, and other things, like WW2 history, obscure religions, and a million other things.

Don’t we all teach and learn?

@Likeradar Then you will be a great teacher. Trust me.

I agree to some extent we are all teachers just depends on the subject and student. I have learned much from many of you.

Nope. And I’m in school to teach, as well. Teach philosophy. To college students, who will presumably each be paying hundreds to thousands of dollars a class to hear me speak. I’m totally terrified.

And if my efforts to interest you all in philosophy are any indication, I’ll make a pretty crappy teacher. Then again, most people here don’t really want to hear philosophical arguments; maybe it’s because to people who aren’t philosophers we sound like we think we know everything about everything because we can come up with the foundations for most questions and several alternative answers to them, just from having read about this stuff before like “How can time be manipulated when it is only a measurement?” You guys have no freaking idea; this has been written on in philosophy for decades now. I could point you at dozens of articles. Tons of the questions here are like this, and I’ve stopped trying to clue everyone in; it’s just too frustrating because everyone just seems to write it off, like: “Oh, she brought up Freud. I’m gonna repeat something I’ve heard other people say and call him a lunatic. That’ll prove I’m smart, and disguise the fact that I don’t know what I’m talking about in one fell swoop.” Or at least, that’s my best guess as to what such responders must be thinking. Literally every time I or anyone else has brought up Freud, this happens. So disappointing. Maybe it would be different for people who are paying hundreds of dollars to actually learn these things, and my experience on this site is not a comparable situation. Fluther itself has actually discouraged me quite a bit in any case, though, because this is my first time trying to teach philosophy to other people. Maybe I’m really just a crappy teacher. Sorry for the rant; I was thinking about this earlier tonight.

I thought I was “born teacher” until I got serious about it as a profession, then I learned that good teachers take a lifetime to master their profession. In my 30+ years of teaching, I have taken hundreds (or more likely thousands) of hours of continuing education just to keep up with the changing student population and the advances in my field of study.

There was a time when I though teaching was as simple as showing someone how to do something or providing instruction. However, now I know that teaching is about being there for every student, every day, every time. It is not a spectator sport, you have to get in there, and sometimes it gets tough. It is not for the weak at heart or the dull of wit. The best teachers adjust constantly to the students they are teaching and their educational environment.

@wildpotato: That’s what happens when I try to tell linguistic facts to people on fluther. They tell me they don’t have an accent. I’ve given up. I now avoid linguistics questions. It’s a shame.

I guess it depends on what you mean by “teacher”. I am not too good a stuffing facts into the heads of uncooperative students, and could never “teach” in a school classroom. However, I am really good at helping children figure out where and how to find the information they are looking for, and encourage them to explore the world around them.

@Rozee: Great answer.

My kids often told me I should have become a teacher. But standing in front of a classroom every day… I have great respect for teachers!

public teacher, yes.

@wildpotato You had me at nope.

I actually trained to be a teacher (7–12) and now teach at the college level and to adults. I am a gifted public speaker (which comes naturally, but is only part of the mix). I think the features of a good teacher also include a personal interest in lifelong learning (as stated above) and an incredible inate sense of curiousity.

However, I think Rozee nailed it with the above description of the other half of the equation-the student(s). Some students are very easy to teach (probably the ones who are natural born teachers and who possess the characteristics I mentioned—curiousity, etc). Other students are incredibly difficult to reach, motivate, and/or inspire and, as Rozee noted, it takes an incredible amount of work to be the detective that will figure out what makes it click for THAT student.

I also believe that some folks do well in the educational environments we create and, for others, these environments spell the death nell for curiousity, interest.

I am also trained to teach Gifted and Talented students and feel most comfortable solving the mysteries of how to reach the more brilliant kids and help them connect dots between what appear to be unlikely things (e.g., math and music). I must admit that I get bored out of my head teaching average and below-average students. That tells me that they are probably pretty bored as well. But I have seen less promising students suddenly make a connection with a particular piece of information and have found that can be used to their advantage (e.g., they like spiders, so we read books about spiders).

So, yes, I think some people are born with SOME of the features to be a GOOD teacher buried deep in their bones someplace. There are a number of other aspects of being a gifted teacher that take experience, mentoring, and lots of practice to master.

I don’t know that I was a born teacher, but I do love to teach, and I think I’m not too bad at it. It helps that my passion is theater (stage management in particular) – it’s such a specific field that anyone who I’m trying to teach it to definitely wants to learn, or they wouldn’t be there. I’m in awe of teachers who can make students who don’t want to be there interested in learning. I don’t think I could ever do that!

@wildpotato @La_chica_gomela I love reading your philosophy and linguistics answers – don’t stop giving them! That’s one of my favorite things about fluther – even if I don’t have anything to contribute to a particular question, I learn so much from everyone else’s answers!

I was reading @Rozee‘s answer (which was wonderful, by the way) and thinking about how I became a teacher. I avoided it, wanting to do anything else. I switched my major 5 times in college, trying to avoid the education department. Both sides of my family have been in education for years, and I wanted to be the individual. However, I was drawn to it again and again. I have a need to work with young people, and to help people explore their world. I guess I am a born teacher after all.

@Zen Right, I had forgotten your penchant for unhelpful single-word answers. Promise I’ll never answer one of your questions again, so you don’t have to worry about it.

@zephyr826 That was nice.

@wildpotato Why so hostile and serious? Nevermind, teacher, take out your anger on your students.

I went started out in college with the goal of becoming a teacher, but I soon found out it wasn’t for me.

@Zen Hostile? I answered your question in detail, apologized for answering in too much detail, and then you were a dick about it. I have no reason to be nice. Serious? So “You had me at nope” was supposed to be a joke to me? Now you’re just being disingenuous – from my answer (y’know, the part where I said that fluther is really discouraging me from wanting to teach) it should have been obvious that I’d take such a cruel comment seriously.

@wildpotato Sorry, dude, but I’m not a trained therapist. In fact, I try to make light and be humourous, but sometimes I cross lines, and am insensitive. This is not my real intent, though, so I apologize here, rather than in PM, so you will know that I didn’t mean to be a dick. Anyone else offended by me: sorry, too. Just having fun and trying to be silly; sometimes I’m a shithead.

Sorry.

I do believe we are born with natural aptitudes, but teaching involves a complex set of skills, so I seems odd to say I was born to it. I think being raising in a family/community that values education is the main factor. I have two parents and five aunts who taught, some some until they married and some for 30+ years. My grandmother taught piano to most of her grandchildren and many others. As a teen I was encouraged to teach bible school and summer art classes for younger kids. I grew up knowing that rich experience and self-improvement is more important than material wealth and possessions. I have taught K-12 art for sixteen years.

@Zen Thanks :). I’m hoping passion and willingness to learn will help me not screw up kids’ futures.

@Likeradar You wrote: I’m in school to be a teacher, and quite honestly it terrifies me a little. This got me thinking that a. you’re in school (already good); b. you’re terrified (be afraid, be very very afraid of teens these days); and c. you have a sense of humility and humour. All good qualities for a teacher. The rest, well, that’s up to you. Bon chance.

I’ve been a teacher for almost a decade now. At first I thought it was just teaching; then I thought it was classroom management, corrective strategies, modelling, etc. Now I think it’s just teaching.

In all honesty, I almost feel that the teacher is incidental to the learning process. Determined, intelligent students learn no matter what; other students don’t. Two bits of advice for would-be teachers: you have to be yourself as a teacher; let your personality shine through. I’m a little hyper and silly, so I often teach that way. Does no good putting on an authoritarian act. Second, enjoy yourself in class; it’s better for everybody.

Everybody is an expert on something!

@Brahmaviharas You wrote: the teacher is incidental to the learning process. Classic. As is every word you wrote.

I am cutting it out of my screen as I type this and pasting it in my wallet. For real. Beautiful.

@cyndihugs I’d recommend reading some of the comments here. You are off-topic and not very productive with that. Sorry.

I was acutally answering the question(in a way) and I feel like whispering.

@cyndihugs okay dear. perhaps you’d like to share something more?

@Zen here (:

<<< does not understand this @cyndihugs person. coffee break. (aside: I am carebearstaring you now @cyndihugs )

@zephyr826, @Kayak8, and @cprevite Thank you for your kind words. I am a dean now but when I retire I am going back to the frontlines with my fellow teachers. I have ventured into the virtual classroom envorinment now and I am liking it very much. It is a bit like this environment but with registration fees, curriculum, and more rules of conduct.

@Zen Thanks, I appreciate the apology. But it seems unnecessary to say that you’re not a trained therapist. One does not need to be a therapist to think through the implications of one’s words and show consideration for another’s feelings. It was hardly an unavoidable mistake on your part, and that bit seems to say that it was, apparently allowing you to sidestep full responsibility for your joke’s being taken a way you didn’t intend. Uh-uh, I’m calling shenanigans on that. It’s good to know that your intent was only to tease.

@wildpotato I pmed you. My intentions are never to hurt or insult, but shit happens when you’re me.

Some people teach. Others do. I’m a do-er :P

@pinkparaluies I hate that saying, and I think most teachers and teachers-in-training do too.

@Likeradar I agree, it overlooks the fact that a doer doesn’t even have to know anything to do the work, but a teacher not only has to know how it is done, but also why, and be able to transfer that knowledge to the students.

I enter a classroom and I automatically start teaching unless it’s Math or PE. I’m majoring in History so I can teach high school history, but teaching high school English is my runner up career choice.