The greatest gift you can give your students
is inspiration.
Find out why by watching our Truth in Two (full text below).
Support MarkEckel.com (here). Find the MarkEckel.com YouTube Channel (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), teaching at Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis, and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video). Consider becoming a Comenius patron (here).
Pictures: Josh Collingwood, Snappy Goat
FULL TEXT
My fourth-grade teacher infamously said to my mom during a parent-teacher conference, “Mark is bright, not brilliant.” That phrase, “bright not brilliant,” has been lodged in the core of my person ever since. I see it every day. In my teaching. In my writing. In my learning. In myself.
But any lack I feel in my scholarship or any academic abilities, I find to be an advantage in other ways. I have this uncanny (I believe it to be supernaturally given) ability to understand complicated concepts and make them intelligible for others. Or, as I like to call it, I believe in putting the cookies on the bottom shelf so everyone can reach them.
And this is what I want to say to teachers everywhere during Teacher Appreciation Week: be who you are, the way God has made you. I bet you have talents your students love you for. Your hands-on creativity gets children involved in their learning. Your ability to ask questions gets students to invest in their own intellectual growth. Your kindness gives children the charity they may be missing elsewhere. Your strong content and clear communication grants pupils’ strong knowledge to do research. Your ability to show practical examples of your subject shows young people how to practice important skills.
I could go on and on about your exceptional abilities. But there is one thing about teaching that every good teacher knows is most important: inspiring your students. When you present ideas in a way that enlivens a classroom, that sparks inquiry, that ignites excitement, that encourages ownership of learning, then, you know you have succeeded as a teacher. It may be the glimmer in the eyes or a smile on the faces, but you know you have just energized student comprehension.
My fourth-grade teacher was right: I’m bright, not brilliant. But like my teaching colleagues everywhere, I know I can inspire student learning. And there is no better legacy than those we leave behind. For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally telling the truth about teaching as we celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week.