By Teaching, We Learn

As a first-year teacher fresh out of college and new to VCS, I feel that it would be best for me to share with our readers some of the things that I have been learning this year. There is an excellent little Latin motto you may have seen before that actually comes from the writings of Seneca (c. 1 B.C. - A.D. 65) which reads: Docendo discimus. It simply means, “By teaching, we learn”. 

This has certainly been the case for me since August, and, given that I don’t have years of experience teaching, I think it will be most beneficial for me to share what I’ve been learning rather than attempting to share the wisdom which I have yet to attain. To make it simple, I have summarized some of my findings into three simple reflections. 

1) Be patient.

I have always been an overachiever and someone who strives to be on top of things in advance. However, one thing that has challenged me about teaching this year is trying to accommodate myself to many new things without having the time or ability to master it all in advance. The real-life challenge is that I am learning the curriculum while trying to teach it to the students. Granted, I have a degree in the subject and they do not (lest you started to panic there for a minute!), but I am still learning the ropes of something new and challenging. And that simply takes time. While I would like to learn everything quickly, master it, and then feel competent at my job, that’s just not how life or teaching works. Mastery and skill are attained over time through constant practice and work, and teaching is no exception. 

One of my professors, who is also a mentor and good friend of mine, gave me the stark encouragement that first-year teaching is analogous to boot camp: you only go through it once. It’s an uphill climb, and it takes longer to get comfortable with it than you think it should, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The light may be a couple of years out, though, in all honesty. And in the meantime, I have been learning the value of being patient with myself and the virtue of perseverance in the task at hand, even if I feel I am only a few steps ahead of the students at any time. 

2) Be enthusiastic.

It may sound redundant, but students will perform better in a classroom where the teacher is enthusiastic about the material. Fortunately for me, I studied History, Christian Studies, and Music in college, and I have the opportunity to teach many of those very things I studied, which is simultaneously what I love and enjoy. This doesn’t mean that I am always thrilled about what we have to do in class each week, but I have seen that when I bring enthusiasm to the topic, it tends to invite enthusiasm from my students, too. 

For example, I have been teaching the story of the Trojan War from Homer’s Iliad to the students in my 5th Grade Humanities class. If taught poorly, this can be a tedious tale full of characters with confusing names and a long, complicated plot. However, if taught well, it can be an epic story featuring heroes, war, tragedy, romance, and deep questions about life and human nature. I have actually really enjoyed teaching this story this year because I recall being their age myself when I was learning the story of the Trojan War. When I was that age, I loved it so much that my siblings and I enacted the characters and pretended we were them. As a teacher, I have sought to channel this enthusiasm for the story in my teaching of it, and I have seen the students get very involved in the story and enjoy it. That is honestly one of the best rewards I have had so far - the reward of seeing the students enjoy and appreciate something that I enjoy and am enthusiastic about. The simple touch of enthusiasm can bring a subject to life as surely as a touch of tedium can kill it. 

3) Be grateful. 

Finally, I have been reminded of the importance of being grateful. 2020 has certainly been a tough year, and it has been very easy to fall into ingratitude along the way at many points. However, I have sought to remind myself of all of the things I can be grateful for in the midst of that. While this is something that I have learned as a teacher, it is not at all limited to teaching. As a teacher, I have a lot to be grateful for: I have a job that I love and enjoy, families that are very cooperative and easy to work with, students that are attentive and respectful, and a school setting that has been able to maintain in-person learning for 16 weeks so far without having to go remote. All of those are blessings this year. Furthermore, there are countless little scenes, moments, and events to be thankful for such as random words of encouragement from parents and other teachers or moments when I get to see the students’ enthusiasm for learning stand out clearly. My goal is to take none of these for granted. 

Reflecting on 2020 as a whole in a moment of particular stress and frustration, I was tempted to wish that I could just nix the whole year and flow seamlessly from a time of past normalcy into a time of future normalcy - to just skip over this hectic and discouraging in-between. Then I realized all of the many blessings and graces I have experienced this year at VCS and elsewhere, and my perspective changed. 

I thought to myself that if the only way to experience those moments of happiness, joy, and good memories this year was to experience them alongside and through the pain and frustration of 2020, then I would rather choose that - good and bad together - than throw out the good with the bad. Even if that is a hypothetical dilemma and none of us actually get the luxury of choosing, it was still a moment of reflection for me that reminded me of the necessity of stopping to intentionally be grateful to God. 

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I’ve now spilled more than enough “ink” on describing a few things I’m learning this year. I can only hope my students are learning as much, though I will leave that in the hands of qualified parents to answer. ;-) While it is true that we don’t know what we don’t know, I’m thankful that God (and coworkers, mentors, and parents!) are gracious to teach us slowly and patiently over time. Truly, docendo discimus. I’m no exception!