Humility and Teaching: On Leading While Walking Backward
A teacher is one who leads while walking backward. Even more, he is one who leads with the humble hope that he will one day be surpassed by those who are following him; for while a teacher may have traveled down the proverbial path a time or two before, he must nevertheless rediscover it with each new student.
In this week\u2019s episode we sit down with Mr. Joe Bissex to discuss the importance of humility in the classroom.\xa0 In the episode, we consider the following questions:\xa0
- What is humility? What is it not?\xa0
- What are some markers of humility?\xa0
- What is the role of a teacher in the classroom?\xa0
- What does it mean for a teacher to point the way?\xa0
- As a teacher, how do you admit failure? Why is it important to do so?
- What is the connection between generosity and humility in the classroom?
As you\u2019ll hear, if a teacher remains humble and sincerely elicits his students\u2019 contributions, it does not infrequently happen that what he had missed on his first ten treks, he may\u2014with the fresh insight of a new student\u2014discover on the eleventh. And in this discovery, both teacher and student will have the joy of knowing that both are disciples of the one Teacher, who is the Truth itself, and whose way makes all things new.\xa0
Show Highlights\xa0
- What is the role of the teacher in the classroom?\xa0
- How does a teacher lead?\xa0
- Why a teacher should hope his student will one day surpass him
- Humility as rejoicing in the ways one\u2019s students will\u2013or already have\u2013surpassed you
- Why it is important for a teacher to humbly recognize his failures\xa0
- How sincere questions can lead to the greatest of discoveries\xa0
- The need to petition for student\u2019s help\xa0
- Why a teacher should be open to the changing his mind\xa0
- Teaching and the unexpected\xa0
- Teaching is modeling a way of thinking, not the mere conveyance of facts
- Why a teacher does not need to have all the answers ahead of time
- Humility in testing: how to assess students in a way that goes beyond fact checking alone
- Joy as the fruit of humility\xa0
- The importance of having the generosity to pray for one\u2019s students, and the humility to ask one\u2019s student\u2019s for prayers.
Also on The Forum
Guidance for Aspiring Teachers with Alvaro de Vicente
Seneca on the Teacher\u2019s Job by Tom Cox
The Teacher as Liberal Artist with Dr. Matthew Mehan and Mr. Tom Longano\xa0
Cultivating Friendship in the Classroom by Austin Hatch
Aristotle on the Student\u2019s Job by Tom Cox