Where’s your teacher?

Where’s your teacher?

©June 2014 Scott Wilson

A few people may know that my wife and I home-schooled all four of our children through the elementary levels of school. One thing I learned is that by teaching others you learn so much. And so a core philosophy in the Wilson household is that learning is not just for our youth, it is a life-long journey. We explained to our kids that it is not truly the responsibility of teachers to teach students but rather it is the students’ responsibility to learn.

Teachers generally have knowledge and experience that will be of use to you on your academic journey and perhaps even your life journey. It is the student's job to wrest this valuable information from the teachers by any means necessary. In school, you will have good and bad instructors. Regardless of the teacher's skill it remains important for the students to learn the material of the class. To this end we tried to create children who took responsibility for their own learning.

We did not always give our children the answers but we always gave them the resources to find the answers and we taught them how to use those resources. I can report that our methods have proved largely successful. Several of our children had entered high school by the time that we discovered through testing that three of them had diagnosable learning disabilities. Their good marks certainly did not reflect this but our difficulties on the way now made sense.

At this stage you the reader might be wondering why I am talking about teaching and learning. This may seem obvious to most but in order for any of us to learn we must have teachers. To that end I can think of the many formal teachers and instructors that I have had through the years. Some were gifted and memorable, many were lackluster, and still others were horrid. I did my best to learn from them all. Of course thinking of teachers also makes me think of coaches.

Coaches are truly a special breed of teacher. Teachers in the strictest sense of the term simply impart knowledge or transfer information to students. That's it. The measure of a good teacher is whether or not the students can prove knowledge and understanding of a subject through written testing. Whether or not these students can practically apply this information to any benefit is quite another matter. A good coach goes beyond this.

Coaches will still impart knowledge as part of the learning process. But good coaching is far more pragmatic. The test of a good coach is whether or not his or her students or players are succeeding in their chosen challenge. The coach of a consistently losing team is fired. Coaches do not merely impart knowledge but they must also provide a vast number of avenues to apply that knowledge in practical ways. In other words, coaches must also provide the life experiences that are needed to truly understand how that knowledge can be applied. Coaches are also there to help the learners to understand the results that occur when their efforts succeed or fail.

What good would a cooking class be if all it involved was teaching culinary theory, such as recipes and cooking techniques, without allowing the students to actually try their hand at creating food? A true cooking teacher is really a coach who guides the class towards success in creating edible and delectable meals. Compared to the number of good teachers that I have had I have experienced even fewer good coaches but I owe them all a debt of gratitude because of what they helped me to learn about myself and this world.

Allow me to switch gears in this monologue. Plato attributed these wise words to Socrates "The life which is unexamined is not worth living." I take these words to mean that we should not just wander through life experiencing this and experiencing that but we should also take time to reflect upon the actions that we have taken and the results that we have reaped. That is long-winded so I’d say that Socrates said it best, we must examine or reflect upon our life.

Yet I am surprised at how few people seem to do this. Many people ponder why this or that happened in their life but relatively few seem to candidly reflect on the role that they played in the outcomes. When I ask someone why they think that this or that had happened to them they often reply simply “I don’t know.” They appear to be clueless of what role they played in their interactions with others. In short, it seems to me that many people experience life but they do not frequently learn from it.

This is where I have had a small revelation. I have come to realize that life itself has been my greatest teacher and coach! That is really what Socrates was talking about. When we are brutally honest with ourselves about our role in our life and if we own our results, the good and the bad without excuses then it all serves to move us towards success. We must be willing to simply learn the lessons.

 

My dad once wrote on a piece of paper 16 principles that he believed were key to success. Number 15 of those principles was "Review the results of your actions and decisions. Know why you either succeeded or failed. (Learn from your mistakes and don't make the same mistake twice.)" These few insightful words demonstrate an understanding that life can be our coach.

So to those that read my words today: Where is your teacher? Where is your coach? Are you still looking for someone to come and teach you the secrets of life? Look no further. No one person has all the answers for you but life itself will provide the answers if you are willing to work with your life and see them. It takes time and effort but the rewards are real. Take some time today and look at your life. Ask yourself "What is my life trying to teach me?" then wait expectantly for the answers to come. Life will answer!