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Copyright © Louis Schmier and Atwood Publishing.
Date: Mon 10/4/2004 4:40 PM
Random Thought: What does it take to be a teacher: An Interview
A couple of weeks ago, I receive a telephone call from a student
attending a western university whom I didn't know. He introduced himself
and told me that he had an assignment to write a paper for his teaching in
higher education class based on an interview with a college professor. He
didn't want to talk with anyone at his institution. So, he found me by
surfing the web. He asked if he could ask me a bunch of questions and tape
our conversation. I agree. He asked and I answered. Today, I received a
transcript of those portions of our conversation that he used as the basis
of his paper. I'd like to share it with you.
"Okay, Dr. Schmier, let's begin. What does it take to be a teacher at the
college level?"
"Well, you don't have to have any education courses as long as you have the
credentials in your discipline. For me, I have found during the past eleven
years that's not enough. It's not enough to be 'subject smart' and
'technology smart' however important they are. And, important they are."
"But, don't you have to know your subject?"
"Sure, but just because you know it doesn't mean you can teach it. That's
a myth. A second myth that's going around as gospel is that to be a good
teacher you have to be a good scholar. If that's the case, I guess very,
very few k through 12 teachers are good at what they do. No, scholarship,
that is, research and publication, require one set of skills that are
divorced from the skills required of teaching."
"That's what I want to know. What are those skills you need for teaching?"
"You've got to be a 'people-holic,' that is, you've got to be a
compassionate people person with lots of 'people smarts.' But, above all,
you've got to be a sprite spirit and have a joyous love of living life. A
decade ago, I wrote a Random Thought I called 'To Be A Teacher.' You can
read it on the website where all the RTs are archived. After all these
years, if I have a favorite Random Thought among the over 500 out there in
cyberspace, it's that one. Towards the end of it, I wrote my strategy, 'If
you want to be a teacher, make all those marvelous feelings and images an
intimate part of you and bring them into the classroom with you and share
them.' That's why not everyone can be a teacher and why just because you
know your discipline you can teach it."
"I've read that you weren't always this way."
"Gosh, no. I was once an accomplished scholarly 'researchoholic' and
'publishoholic,' a lecturing 'talkoholic, and a 'testoholic!'"
"When did you change and why?"
"It happened in October, 1991, but is this pertinent to your paper?"
"No, not really. I'm just curious."
......You know, I'm so lucky and I do humbly appreciate it. I'm so happy.
I am so lucky that I found a way of making a living that's a way of living,
a way of authentically doing and being at the same time in the same place.
I am doggone lucky."
"Well, if you've already changed, where do you go now?"
"Not 'already changed,' but 'changing,' that is, evolving to reach my own
unique potential as I help each student help himself to reach his or her
own. It never stops. My change was not a big-bang event. It's a process
of growth. It's a journey. Where do I go? I go back into the classroom
tomorrow and continue my journey of growing and learning."
"A teacher learning in the classroom? I thought it was the teacher who
teaches."
"And learns. I invite the energies and talents of each student into my
thinking and learn from them. I don't know it all. Nothing works all the
time. Nothing is accepted and applauded by everyone. Nothing always runs
smoothly. I'm always trying things out. There are always jolting bumps and
potholes in the road. There's always the unexpected."
"Doesn't that pose a problem if you're not prepared for those problems?"
"Well, I'm prepared for problems to appear, although I don't know what they
might be. But, none of that is the problem."
"What is?"
"Our attitude. It's our attitude towards those potholes and bumps, towards
the challenging, towards the unexpected, towards the imperfect; it's our
tightly held but largely unexamined beliefs. Do you know what a belief is?"
"I think you're about to tell me."
"A belief is an attitude we've had for years; it's an unexamined habit of
thinking without thinking about it that we've developed over years and which
governs our perceptions and actions. So, if I'm going to break my habits
and make sure I don't replace them with others, I'm always examining my
attitude and efforts, always learning to unlearn in order to maintain my
spiritual focus in the face of resistance and challenge, always seeking to
improve a wholesome partnership between life and work, between living and
working, between me, the teacher, and me, the person. To do that, I've got
to keep myself fresh and alert while avoiding the seduction of success and
the arrogance of authority. I've got to learn to give everything and
everyone my full attention. That is emotionally demanding and energy
draining. Nevertheless, only then can I do what needs to be done. It's one
thing for me to say I want to help each person help him- or herself become
the person he or she is capable of becoming. It's quite another thing for
me to develop the attitude and skills, as well as maintain both the energy
and emotional level, necessary to make that happen."
"So, what does it take to be a teacher?"
"You want a step by step 1,2,3?"
"If you can."
"I'm not going to make it easy for you because it's not that easy. Really,
I'm not sure I can or want to. I know it is not automatically the result of
x number of classes, x gpa, and x degrees, or even x number of years of
experience in the classroom. I'm not a five easy steps 'how to' guy. I'm
not a walking teaching infomercial touting a sure-fire gadget that will make
anyone's teaching perfect with only a mere five minute a day workout. I'm a
"I want you to think about" guy. I'm more of a guy who offers a choice, a
challenging choice, a constantly and daily work hard at it choice, by
showing 'this is what I do and why I do it.' Now, this is going to drive
the 'spreadsheeters,' jargonizers, labelers, categorizers, lovers of 'ists'
and 'isms,' the scholarship of teaching people, the assessors, and those who
take comfort in numbers up a wall. Some teachers 'have it.' You know 'it'
when you see it, but you can't put a handle on it; you can't put it into
words; you can't identify it or slap a tag on it. It's both concrete and
ethereal, both physical and spiritual, both idealistic and practical as
instinct, a 'touch,' a 'gift,' an intuition, a 'knack.' It defies calling it
something. I'm not sure that 'it' has to have a name and that it's not a
waste of time and misleading to conjure one up. It's so personal that it
doesn't have a prescribed step by step plan. It may not work in another
place with another person. And, I'm not sure that is bad as long as you can
see it and experience it for yourself. It has something to do with
passion, commitment, faith, awareness, belief, empathy, connection, and,
yes, love."
"Why did you say you offer a challenging choice. Why can't you tell me
what it takes to be a teacher?"
"Okay, I'll tell you what it takes. Teaching is a matter of paying intense
attention. Let me go back to 'To Be A Teacher.' It ends with these words:
'If you want to be a teacher, as Carl Jung advised, you have to put aside
your formal theories and intellectual constructs and axioms and statistics
and charts when you reach out to touch that miracle called the individual
human being."
"Pay attention to what?"
"More to 'whom' and your 'why' than to 'what' and 'how.' To the individual
human being! To your purpose and meaning. Paying attention to the
every-changing and transforming kaleidoscope of the individuals in the
classroom, as well as of ourselves. We have to listen to the voices heard
and unheard. They're so different from each other. You know, no two snow
flakes are the same; no two sets of finger prints are the same; no two human
faces, as Richard Avedon always said, are the same; so, too, no two people
are the same. Yet, we so often strip people of their uniqueness and treat
them as if they are the same. So, 'pay attention' means be keenly aware.
Be an intense observer. Remember, that the small details are important.
Everything a student feels and does is an integral part of and has an impact
on his or her learning and teaching. Everything you do is an integral part
of and has an impact on your learning and teaching."
"How do you do that? There has to be a formula to accomplish that. I mean
we have classes to teach us all about that."
"You still want a string of sure-fire steps. Here are my ways by which
I've found my way. They may not be sure-fire, but they sure fire me up each
day. Each day! Don't forget that. It's in the everyday. Listen to the Tao
le Ching: You 'accomplish the great task by a series of small acts.' The
angels are, therefore, in the details. Love and live with the mystery of the
unexpected and inexplicable, be flexible, let go of control, lie low, don't
use force or threat, have a clear open mind and heart, let go of limiting
labels, let go of preconceptions and expectations, be a resource not the
source, be spontaneous, take risks, be prepared to make mistakes, learn from
your mistakes, create a supporting and encouraging community, make the most
of both your and each student's imagination and creativity, keep a clear and
open mind, practice humility. If you can learn that, it can make a huge
difference in how things work out. And, you will make a great difference."
"I don't get it. You haven't said a thing about using technology or
testing or evaluations or anything like that."
"They're tools, nothing more. We focus on them too much. They're not
miraculous cure-alls. Never were. That's not to say they're unimportant.
But, you know, just because someone invented the fountain pen doesn't mean
we're better writers. And, the computer doesn't mean we're better
connected and communication is faster and clearer, or that standardized
testing means we're more knowledgeable, or evaluations make us better at
what we do. All teaching and learning is people teaching and people
learning. Teaching is all about people. The 'people factor' is critically
important. It's people who decide how to put the tools to use. I've seen
people use the finest tools to do a lousy job, and even an unethical job.
Let me put it another way. We use all sorts of tools to work with all sorts
of materials to build a house, but those tools don't decide whether the work
is shoddy or exceptional, and it's not the tools that makes the house a
livable home. No, we have to be 'people smart,' not just 'technological
smart.' Everything you feel, think, and do as a teacher, including whether
and how you use those tools at your disposal, derives from the extent to
which you respect, appreciate, and love yourself, what you do, and each
student."
"I'm not sure I get it."
"Think about it for a while and we call me with some follow-up questions if
you wish. I'd like to read a copy of the paper you hand in."
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