„Ein guter Lehrer füllt nicht nur die Leere in den Köpfen der Lernenden, sondern auch in ihren Herzen.“
(Michaela Maier)
In other words, teaching is more than just providing basic information. Teaching is about passion; it’s about being excited to see the progress in class, it’s about connecting the students’ heads and hearts to the subject being taught. I don’t want to merely be a teacher that fills up the empty heads of students with required material, to be forgotten later. I want to be a teacher that also fills the hearts of the students such that they study the subject long after the class has already ended; and that they pick up at least one small thing, from class, that they will benefit from in the long run. Underpinning this belief are three key points that make me the teacher I am today:
Meaning
First, I strongly believe in doing what I truly love in life. I never wish to live a collection of consecutive days that I would not enjoy repeating. Therefore, I frequently look inward to discover what this means for me and use this to develop a better version of myself, finding fulfillment and satisfaction at every turn. I don’t just want to have a job, but a meaningful task in life, and that is reflected in my teaching. I believe that, as a teacher, one should not simply teach a subject because it is required for students, but should teach it in a manner that relates to their personal lives and experiences. Learning a foreign language may be a requirement for most students, but with good methods and the right spirit, it can become a subject from which students will benefit in the long run. One of my recent students, in fact, switched his major to German after attending my German course and was very grateful for the opportunity to discover a new passion. A foreign language is not just useful for communicating in that specific country, but also helps to understand other cultures, the way language and communication works in general and develops effective strategies to improve one’s learning styles. To me, it is incredibly important that I provide knowledge and understanding that go beyond what one can easily Google. My everyday goal is to connect with my students, to encourage them to envelop themselves in my subject and work not only to earn a good grade but also to discover something meaningful to their lives.
Challenge
Second, people tend to think teaching is boring because you often have to repeat the same material each semester. While repetition itself may seem boring, it actually provides a means to perfect your understanding of the curriculum. With this achieved, the true excitement and challenge of teaching is further exposed. Namely, dealing with and changing the way you teach for each class environment. The end-goal will always be the same, but as a teacher you have the amazing opportunity and great responsibility to create new paths tailored to fit the needs of your students.
Advance
Third, following my personal experience learning four foreign languages, I continually strive to advance my students’ learning through new strategies or general tips, such as studying German articles by using flashcards of different colors or by inventing creative and extraordinary stories to justify the random nature of gender assignment. However, I also encourage my students to find their own way of thinking, speaking, writing and moving forward with this new language, which may lead them to a new journey of expression. For me, a foreign language opens one’s mind to a new world outside of where they grew up, providing a way to experience different points of view and understand what is happening in the world around them.
Teaching is about passion; it’s about being excited to see the seed that you planted in a student’s head growing from the very first day of class. It’s being able to reap what you’ve sown, after it has grown all the way through students’ hearts by the last day of class. The three concepts, Meaning, Challenge and Advance, help me to do this and reflect who I am as a teacher at this point in my career. It is possible I will rethink and change as I progress as a teacher, but my passion for teaching will undoubtedly remain throughout my life.
Deutsch 