The Teacher

Over time, I have realized that I like teaching. I've had a lot of practice helping my siblings and friends with homework over the years, and I picked up a trick or two. In fact, that's actually what made the idea of volunteering to teach seem like a good idea a while back. In that time, though, I've noticed that I have a very distinct style. Needless to say, it almost always leads to laughter.

First off, I have a rule when I get in front of a room of people. It's very simple: if you have jokes, so do I. I pretty much just figure that everyone's an adult, so I'll give as good as I get. It also keeps things more lively, so people are much more likely to pay attention. Besides, everyone has a good time as a result.

The funniest reaction I've ever seen to this was on the first day of a class. One of my students walked in on the very first day of a math class, and announced that she was "protesting" having to be in this class. I immediately announced back that I was protesting her distaste for the subject. It wasn't even the best joke, it was just to get the point across that her fear of the subject was unfounded. Her reaction, though, was pure gold: "uh oh .... we got a live one." Everyone in the immediate vicinity immediately started laughing.

Secondly, I ask a lot of questions. If you want to get all technical, I tend to employ something like the Socratic method. I don't quite remember when or why I started doing this, but basically, I find that people actually learn that way. There's an old adage that if you can explain it to someone else, you actually know what you're talking about. If I ask you a question about it, I'm basically forcing you to explain it to me.

I remember that I used to work with my sister in the early part of her undergraduate career. And though she didn't complain, this all boiled down to an exchange. We had spent quite a bit of time working on something, and a friend of hers came by to see if she wanted to go out:

Friend: "Hey, we're going to head out. You want to come?"
Sister: "I can't, I'm working with my brother"
Friend: "Wait. Still? I thought you started a while ago?"
Sister: "You don't know my brother ..."

My sister told me this anecdote years later, and I couldn't help but chuckle. I knew exactly what she meant, and I couldn't deny it. But as much as that was representative of my teaching, there was an even better story yet to come.

A few weeks back, the Mild Ex and I were watching football. Now, she's not much of a football fan, so this was clearly for my benefit. She did, however, want to understand what was going on. So, she asked questions. Namely, she wanted to know what the heck all of those numbers meant (she was referring to the downs). So, I explained it to her. Still, I reverted into teacher mode out of sheer muscle memory. After I explained it, I ran through a couple of examples, and then asked her if she knew what down it was after the last play we had seen. Luckily, she had understood my explanation, so all was right in the world.

Shortly after that, we were talking to a friend of mine, and the subject of football came up. That led to the following conversation:

Friend: "Oh, so [Mild Ex], are you much of a football fan?"
Mild Ex: "Not really"
Me: "Yeah, I just recently explained how downs work as we were watching"
Friend: "Ah, okay, so not a fan"
Me: "But she picked it up quickly. She knew what down it was after I asked ..."
Friend: "Whoa whoa whoa, she got a TEST in the middle of the game? That's rough, man"
Me: "Oh, yeah, huh ... "
*Everyone then laughs*

I hung my head in shame for a little bit after that.