Joys of Teaching

I mentioned before that I once tried to teach a friend a physics concept and walked away feeling that I was no good at teaching. That one experience etched in my mind that I wasn’t suited for teaching. It’s remarkable how a single casual encounter marked me for life. Or so I thought.

It was only when I had to start teaching our son that I really studied pedagogy. Knowing something is not the same as knowing how to teach it. It all started with reading and I’ve been really engaged in learning about how math sense develops.

I’ve been volunteering at Calvin’s current school ever since he started going. While helping out with admin work in his K class was ok, it has been a lot more rewarding this year because I’ve  genuinely helped out a kid who would otherwise be wasting his time in school.

Next year, I’ve decided to join the PTA to challenge myself into doing something new. But I hope I’ll still have time to continue with honing my teaching skills via volunteering. (I do it daily with little C but that doesn’t prepare me for dealing with all types of children. Plus I usually have less emotional leverage with someone else’s child) I’m surprised to find that I really enjoy teaching children. I wouldn’t have believed it when I was younger but this is a side of me that has been suppressed all these years from that one failed experience. As I try to live with a growth mindset, I’m starting to believe that failures are opportunities to learn and I’ve become bolder in trying again and again and that is really liberating.