Takeaway 01: They Know

¡Buenas! We have entered the second half of my Fund for Teachers journey and have arrived in Spain. No matter the time of day, buenas seems to be the preferred greeting: no need for the días or tardes or noches.

En route to meet my second VAWAA artist, we first swung by Barcelona, a city I had never before visited. Nestled between the Balearic Sea and Collserola mountains, Barcelona proved to be much larger and more beautiful than I expected. To know a place from a map or photos on the internet, is much different than to KNOW a place from boots on the ground and interacting with the community. Eager to learn more about this visually captivating city, we signed up for a bike tour.

Everyone is a Teacher. Everyone is a Learner.

Good teaching is not only transmitting content from the teacher to the student, but building relationships. Getting to know your audience, their expectations and interests, and the delicate dance of give-and-take banter. The longer I teach, the more often I see teaching happening outside the four walls of a classroom.

A hotel concierge is a teacher.

A tour guide is a teacher.

Your current profession, dear reader, is also likely teaching someone something.

Once you realize that, it's a great responsibility to not only pass on the necessary content, but to make sure the learner feels encouraged and empowered by you.

Relationships Matter

Without explicitly saying it aloud, we were clearly not our bike tour guide’s favorite group. Her words, tone, and body language expressed annoyance. The divide between teacher and learner grew, and while repairs attempted to be made, the four-hour tour ended with disappointment and frustration and everyone eager to go their separate ways.

You will not always have a classroom that is easy to handle. Students, like tourists, will always come with different energies, different background knowledge, and different abilities. Learning to gracefully juggle that variety of needs is a skill that requires effort on the teacher’s part, but will reap many benefits if achieved. It is best to anticipate that variety, and navigate it with respect and humor. As my very first mentor teacher once told me, 

You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

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