Published on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month
|
|
Learning to Do by Teaching
Jun 18 2007, Mike Estep
Our society (United States) places much value on education. This is evident in legal mandatory education of children under 18 through public, private, or home schooling. It is also evident in the encouragement of high school students to attend college or trade schools after graduation. In several of my previous articles, I give opinions on negative aspects of education in our society and things that I feel should be improved. However, I believe the pursuit of acquiring knowledge and developing skills is a noble one. This is whether a person is seeking such improvement through formal academic avenues, doing it on their own, or both.
I’ve spent a great deal of time in schooling as a student and teacher in both music and computing sciences/technology. During this time, I’ve tried to observe, study, and create areas that could improve my students’ or my own learning. One of the very best ways I've found of putting knowledge into action is teaching.
When teaching others, I'm repetitiously studying materials, practicing the materials myself, imagining from different perspectives, contemplating the best ways to describe to students, demonstrating to students, writing materials down, and speaking the materials aloud. I involve imagestreaming and Socratic questioning in the process. I've also developed traits of passion and philosophical thinking which not only fuels my own action, but inspires my students as well.
Most of you have probably heard a statement similar to “Those who can’t do teach.” I don’t fall into this category. I’ve also been a performing musician over the last 39 years on 4 instruments, vocals, and various music technologies. Therefore, I’m not negating the importance of proficiency outside the classroom. My main point is that my doing has been altered and influenced in a positive way by my teaching.
Unfortunately, many teaching situations don’t require or allow time for the pursuit of teaching and doing. Also, many people out “in-the-field” don’t see a necessity to teach. If I were giving advice in this area of teaching vs. doing, I would have to say from my own observations and experiences that in order to excel in either area, a person should strive to excel in both areas. It may be difficult at times to juggle both tasks, but most things worth pursuing include obstacles to overcome.
In the beginning, I wasn’t investigating such ideas or intending to pursue teaching. My main goal was music and technology performance. However, I was in a situation in my mid 20’s where teaching was “thrust upon me”. Now, I’m so thankful that this happened, because I've become an expert at doing over the last 22 years in ways that never could have transpired if I hadn't taught also.
Expertise = Doing + Teaching
|
|
|
|
|
|