Are You a Good Teacher?

I was standing by the cooktop pouring beaten eggs into a frying pan when the sound of pattering feet hit my ears. I looked to my left as my two-year-old pushed a stool over next to my side.

"I want to help, Mama," his little voice said, as he climbed up onto the stool.

I smiled and handed him the spatula. "Alright, but remember the pan and stove are hot."

As he stood there helping me make scrambled eggs, it occurred to me how much patience is required to teach someone.

I believe there are some key things that make one a good teacher. As I pondered over the course of the day about it, several things came to me about how to teach life lessons.

1. Patience/Timing

   ~Sometimes you'll come across someone who is an instant learner. It's easy to teach them and requires no patience. But what about the ones that have to be taught more than once? Does your patience have a limit? One way to be aware of if you'll feel impatient is to consider how much time you have to teach them. Like the story above with my little man, I had time that morning to teach him how to cook eggs. On a busier morning I might not have the time (or patience) to teach and have mistakes made.

2. Which brings me to my next point. Mistakes. Will you allow them to make mistakes or do they need to be perfect the first time?

   ~There needs to be an environment conducive to being allowed to be imperfect. If you have to have it done correctly the first time you'll end up taking over the very thing you're trying to teach them. But in the process, there is something you will teach them. You'll teach them if they can't learn something instantly they've failed. They won't learn how to try again. They also won't learn how to correct their mistakes.
   

3. Will you let them learn differently than you?

   ~I realized one day that one of my children swept the floor differently than I do. I had taught them the way I did it. But as I sat and watched them, not gonna lie, it granted on my nerves a bit the way they were sweeping. I wanted to call out to them, ask them what they were doing, or to correct how they were sweeping. But instead I stayed quiet and watched if they got the job done. Not only did they get the job done, it was well done. It was swept differently than I taught them, but the end result was the same. A crumb free floor.

   So, again, I'll ask you: Do they have to learn the same way you do? Really think about that one. So often, we will instantly answer "of course not". But is that the truth?

   
   

4. Finally, I want to encourage you to help teach them how to correct their mistakes. No one is perfect, thus there will be mistakes. Do you help show them ways to fix the problem? As they get older do you listen or counsel as they work through the problem to solve it?

   Are you a good teacher?