Leo, I really enjoyed your post and I completely agree with you: "Get fascinated. As a teacher, you should fascinate the student by rediscovering with her all the things that originally fascinated you about the topic." Even though my son went to a public school, I was also teaching at home using this method. Life is fascinating, people are fascinating, the way people think is fascinating! If you're excited about the topic, you can't help but pass that on, even if only for a few minutes. The learning takes place easily then.
Only 1 teacher in his high school stands out to us as being fascinated and excited about what she was teaching and she was his Italian teacher. She was from Italy and loved to teach the language to her students in addition to the culture. Being Italian, she **knew** the language and also knew how to teach it unlike his Spanish 'teacher' the year before. Our son learned more in his Italian class in one week than he had in a year of Spanish. Amazing!
Now in college, one of my son's favorite professors is a man who teaches Western Civilization. The professor is excited about traveling (which he has done a lot of), and the world and he radiated that through his own personal stories tying into the topic. The students love his class!
As an aside: When my son was ready to look into colleges and said he couldn't decide on a major or what type of college he wanted to attend, I asked him: "What would you like to learn more about most?" He immediately said, "Astronomy!!" THAT's how you decide your education, whether at college or in life in general. Keep asking yourself that question and see where it leads you. :)
On Jul 1, 2012 Lisa wrote:
Leo, I really enjoyed your post and I completely agree with you: "Get fascinated. As a teacher, you should fascinate the student by rediscovering with her
all the things that originally fascinated you about the topic." Even though my son went to a public school, I was also teaching at home using this method. Life is fascinating, people are fascinating, the way people think is fascinating! If you're excited about the topic, you can't help but pass that on, even if only for a few minutes. The learning takes place easily then.
Only 1 teacher in his high school stands out to us as being fascinated and excited about what she was teaching and she was his Italian teacher. She was from Italy and loved to teach the language to her students in addition to the culture. Being Italian, she **knew** the language and also knew how to teach it unlike his Spanish 'teacher' the year before. Our son learned more in his Italian class in one week than he had in a year of Spanish. Amazing!
Now in college, one of my son's favorite professors is a man who
teaches Western Civilization. The professor is excited about traveling (which he has done a lot of), and the
world and he radiated that through his own personal stories tying into
the topic. The students love his class!
As an aside: When my son was ready to look into colleges and said he couldn't decide on a major or what type of college he wanted to attend, I asked him: "What would you like to learn more about most?" He immediately said, "Astronomy!!" THAT's how you decide your education, whether at college or in life in general. Keep asking yourself that question and see where it leads you. :)