"But choose your teacher well, let that teacher be a well of inspiration and
discipline and when you start to feel that the teacher is hindering your
self-esteem in your attempts, question it and pull away if you need to.
Teachers need teaching in this
area."
At the risk of belaboring this topic, I think her observations are worth a
second look. I've gone on record as supporting lessons rather than
self-instruction. But finding the right teacher is EXTREMELY important, and
it may take several trial and error attempts to find the right one. A
college degree is no guarantee that a person is qualified to teach. You
really have to look at a variety of factors. Although I know you can teach
people to be teachers, I think the best teachers have an innate ability for
teaching. I am reading Walter Cronkite's book, "A Reporter's Life" and there
was a passage about teaching that I thought was a very astute observation.
Cronkite credits a man named Fred Birney with directing the course of his
life. In writing about this man he says: "Birney, as far as I know, was
never taught to teach. His strength was his deep practical knowledge of his
subject, his love of it, and his intense desire to communicate that knowledge
and that love to others. That must be the secret of all great teachers....".
I couldn't agree more.
Jan Jennings