a learned skill
Teaching is a skill, either learned in a classroom/college environment or through life experiences, allowing someone to focus on a talent and be able to take another through the same exercise. Some people have a knack for it, some trained teachers become robots.
I became a teacher once I had mastered my talents. I did not go to school to be a teacher, but life dealt me enough lessons to be able to pay my knowledge forward. I studied my talents, art, horses, archeology etc. and through watching others, learned you can know too much! Focus on what comes naturally and tune out the grey noise around you. It’s okay to have knowledge of many subjects, but when it comes to teaching, focus on the few.
I stumbled into teaching. I began with felted arts, which I was very comfortable with and had a vast knowledge of needles and techniques. I started small with a group of ladies, making bunnies, with the unfortunate disadvantage of a major snowstorm bearing down on us.
The ladies assumed I was going to start from scratch, showing them every step. I began with a pre-made base of a bunny for time management, which the ladies were not to happy with. They wanted step by step. It would of been a 6 week class! They were annoyed, I didn’t work on a bunny myself. Lots of little details. Why didn’t we learn this first? that first? etc. etc. I learned a lot from these ladies.
I decided to try teaching night classes at a high school near me. Using all the knowledge the ladies had taught me, we started small, working on the fundamentals of felting and the different wools, needles and techniques. Once that was done with basics, we built our sculptures.
