This week, I have been thinking quite a bit about the whole idea of teaching. A friend wrote to me again to think about lecturing in our local law school. I led a bible study last week for the first time after a two year break. Certain incidents at art school last weekend also made me think about what is the purpose of teaching, what is a good teacher, and why some people "have it" and others don't.It might be one of the ironies in life for me. I never felt I had a calling to be a teacher - in fact, as you guys know, I turned down a teaching scholarship to go to Oxford many years ago because I did not think I had the qualities to be a teacher. An academic maybe, but not a teacher. I didn't think I was that comfortable with kids and I also wanted to see the world beyond a school.
But funnily enough after that, I kept getting drawn into teaching positions in other areas. After I became a Christian , I started leading bible studies quite frequently in small groups. To see myself financially through university, I taught a family privately for nearly 6 years, seeing the children through their high school and junior college English and literature classes. Even now, working as counsel in a financial institution, training the bankers is a regular feature of my job.
How do I see teaching? I think of it as a "creative" vocation, not that different from being an artist or a designer. In this regard, I agree very much with my favorite preacher Tim Keller that, every time someone stands in front of a group of people to impart some knowledge or understanding, he or she needs to employ creativity to transfer that knowledge (and often a passion) in a way that catches the attention of the audience and makes them think about the subject matter in a different way.
But then, of course, a teacher is very much more than that as well. He or she is also patient, and takes a genuine interest in the students. Attention is demanded of a teacher on a minute by minute basis that can be extremely enervating. These are not natural aspects for me. I tend to guard my personal space jealously, and am rather impatient to see results in any task I undertake. So at the moment, it is not clear that I should make a career switch, even though I think I do enjoy the creative aspects of teaching quite a lot. Must continue to pray about it.
