Teaching
The successful teacher should look at his/her job as an opportunity - not as an obligation. To associate with students is a rare privilege; to teach them is an inspiration; to lead them into the knowledge is joy itself.
Teaching is a very complex art. It does not merely consist of an inquisition of questions with appropriate answers thrown in; it surely is not mere reading; nor can it be mistaken for preaching or lecturing.
Every teacher should know the answer to the question "Why do I teach?"
When I asked my favorite teacher that same question, her answer was:
"I teach to help my students realize their divinity, to assist them to become all that they might become and to make them what they might not be without my teaching."
I like the standard old definition of teaching, because it is very rich in suggestion.
Old Definition of Teaching: "Teaching is the process of training an individual through the formation of habits, the acquisition of knowledge, the inculcation of ideals, and the fixing of permanent interests so that he shall become a clean, intelligent, self-supporting member of society, who has the power to govern himself, can participate in noble enjoyments, and has the desire and the courage to revere God and serve his fellows."
The Good Teachers are the Great Cultivators of Souls
We all know that here is no such thing as static life. Good teachers have the privilege of pointing to the higher life, they are the gardeners in the garden of life. The teachings of childhood are what determine the character of maturity.
We know that people are capable of doing both good and evil and that all human beans develop character as they practice virtue and avoid vice. We know, too, that every normal human bean has opportunity to be fully mentally developed with the right education and the school of life.
Someone once said: "The child is born into the world half angel, half imp. The imp develops naturally, the angel has to be cultivated."