What defines a good teacher? What make a teacher special? What makes a teacher unique? If the definition is one that advocates and
defines it as the expertise and knowledge in teaching a subject matter, it is
something that anyone can do with the right amount of time and training.
I am of the opinion and belief that a
teacher must strive in every manner possible to be a comprehensive, complete
and holistic individual. I am
articulating this from the point of a music educationist who teaches the Guitar
and Violin as principal instruments.
A moral foundation with the related
layers of spirituality, emotions, intellectualism and life experiences is
imperative bedrock that a teacher must possess and offer the students. There are compelling attributes that
compliment what I have just expressed as follows:
Compassion
- this
is a trait and quality that one must have in daily life which must be
equivalent to second skin. Compassion must always be accorded to one’s students
no matter what the status, advantages or disadvantages of a student. The facts
in this current age and time we live in are one of tremendous life pressure. It
will not get any better in the foreseeable future. Learning and acquiring a skill is filled with
challenges. One can be intimidated by the challenge ahead of them.
Some children already come from a
pressure cooker environment , some
children are slow off the blocks and they require additional assistance,
some children come scarred by physical violence or verbal abuse, on some the
expectation are way too high. The
scenarios and possibilities are endless. Compassion must be first line of
employment in thought, word and deed towards any individual. If a child develops
an affinity towards a musical instrument until he/she fulfil the potential of
his/her natural life expectancy – the
touch of compassion would have been the root.
A teacher of substance will feel the
pulse beat of a student and know when the student is especially in pain and
discomfort. A teacher must realize in a
profound manner that pain, a wound or insecurity is a place where the light of
compassion will offer healing.
Dominic Damian
14th October 2013
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