It' Not About You!

Whether you are trying to convince your students that you are capable, called and ready to teach them:

“I am trying to save you a lot of pain…”
“I am trying to teach you…”
“I have lived this, listen to me…”
“This material is great, you need it…”
“I am called…”

Whether you are trying to explain away your shortcomings, share your trials, or make excuses:

“I try and try but they don’t want to learn…”
“If I am going to have these constraints, I can’t teach…”
“If I have to tiptoe…”
“I really try to reach them but they…”
“They just don’t like me…”

Whether you are arguing that you should be able to teach or able to teach certain material:

“I am certified, qualified – therefore…”
“This material is great, it changed my life. They need it...”
“I am called…”

Whether you are proclaiming your success, the happiness of your students or the effectiveness of their learning:

“No matter what I teach them, they learn…”
“I have helped move the system forward and know I am teaching them…”
“I have this way of connecting and working…”
“I get them and they get me…”
“They love me…”
“I am a great teacher…”
“I was able to show them this material that changed my life…”
“I am called…”

All of the above comments are absolute garbage (feel free to insert a harsher word as you feel comfortable!).  The learning process is not about you!  

If you are trying to convince your students that you are capable, called and ready to teach them by talking about your credentials, life or position, you are fooled. In fact, from the moment a teacher begins to make such arguments of credibility or value, he has diagnosed the material as inadequate and himself as impotent.  Great teachers are simply great and teach great, valuable material to learners and have no time or need to justify themselves of their material.

If you are trying to explain away your shortcomings, insecurities or making excuses when challenged by blaming the environment, leaders and learners, you are fooled.  In fact, the moment that you blame, you divide.  Great teachers are so concerned with the learners that they listen well to all criticism, weigh it, and improve either their understanding of the problem or their methods.

If you are trying to argue that you should be able to teach or able to teach certain material, you are fooled.  The moment that you have to argue your rights, credentials or credibility based on you, you should know that the worth you argue is not apparent to those around you.  Great teachers know that they have no right to teach or to teach certain material and would never mount an argument based on themselves.

If you are proclaiming your success, the happiness of your students or the effectiveness of their learning based on you, you are fooled.  The moment you begin to proclaim their greatness with you in the explanation, you should know that you have doomed them to becoming like you – focused on you.  Great teachers know that they employ methods and wisdom not derived from them but from millennia of great teachers and ultimately from Truth.

Teaching is not about you.  Teaching is entirely about the passing of truth from one generation of learners to the next.  Be humble, stay out of the way and let truth pass.