As long as I can remember, I have been a teacher of one sort or another.  As a third grader, I was the student who helped others with their math problems.  Growing up, I watched my father, himself a teacher, make every moment into a learning experience.  In turn, I tried to do the same with my little brother.  Teaching is integral to my view of people’s roles in the world.  Everyone is a teacher and everyone is a learner.  There is no vacuum when it comes to personal interactions – everyone’s actions touch other people and those people's actions touch still others.  It is this outward rippling of connection that forms the learning experience we call life, and in it we are all teachers.

            So what does this interpersonal connection mean for me as an educator?  How does this affect my own teaching in the classroom?  It means that my role is to connect to students and to show them how to become connected, how they are connected, not only to the subject matter of our classroom, but also to the world as a whole.

    If students are to learn a subject, they must see the connection between that subject matter and their life.  They must become invested in their own education because it is their education which will give them power within the context of these connections.  Language is the medium through which these connections occur, and because of this, the study of language arts plays a unique role in the give and play of this power structure.  With an effective command of language skills, students will be able to have a voice in shaping the world in which they live.  With a critical and discerning awareness of language and the ideas it forms, they will be able to mitigate the words and thoughts of this world that would prey upon them, influencing and swaying them to interests other than their own.  Without a voice and a critical awareness, they will be powerless victims to the forces that ripple through these connections.  

    It may be within our classroom that they open their mouths and test their voices for the first time, that they take those tentative first steps towards lucidity.  And for this reason, students need to feel a mutual respect and a sense of safety and security with their instructor.  There needs to be an atmosphere of teamwork, a feeling that both they and the teacher are working towards a common goal – their education.   To foster this respect and mutual understanding, I strive, to the greatest extent possible, to know each student individually.  What are their specific needs as a learner and as a person?  What teaching style works best for them?  What considerations in their life and personality are going to affect their learning abilities?  This understanding, this connection, creates an atmosphere of security in which students will have the chance to develop their skills and grow as learners.

    As students grow and develop, they will begin to see the true value of their education.  They will begin to seek out their own doors to open and pass through.  Their reliance on me will diminish.  In this sense, my goal as a teacher is to eliminate my students’ need for me, to commit occupational suicide.  I want my students to develop the ability to motivate themselves.  When they understand the connection between their world and their education, they will want to shape their lives; they will want to no longer be passive flotsam in the currents of life.  They will become active participants in the ebb and flow of connection.