What Do Great Teachers Do?

Krista Ramsey

I belong to a Writers’ Group at my local, Midpointe Library in West Chester, Ohio. This past week I was especially excited to attend because we were going to have a guest speaker – a lady I have admired for quite some time. Our guest was Krista Ramsey from the Cincinnati Enquirer. Not only does she write beautiful thought provoking articles, but she frequently writes about issues involving education which is a subject near and dear to my heart. (As all my readers of this blog are aware).

During Krista’s talk about her writing she shared with us how her writing dream began. She was in elementary school when a teacher, Mrs. Moomaw, required all the students in her class to write a poem. She chose Krista’s poem and asked her to read it aloud in front of an auditorium full of people. It was as simple and yet as significant as that…a vote of confidence from her teacher. It was that very day that Krista began to think of herself as a writer. “If my teacher thinks I am a writer, then I must be good at it,” she shared her childhood rationale with us.

“I believe a good teacher wills you into your gifts.”

Krista Ramsey

I couldn’t agree more. Ms. Ramsey worked on her writing craft for many years but she confessed she didn’t always have the confidence to call herself a writer aloud. She became an English teacher first. And yet that one day with Mrs. Moomaw and one act of recognition by a teacher influenced her life in such a way that the writing dream never went away. She steered herself as directly as possible toward that target that her teacher had revealed to her. Now all her readers and fans can enjoy her written insights regularly. As a fan of Ms. Ramsey’s writing, I personally want to thank Mrs. Moomaw.

I was struck by the life experiences that I shared with Ms. Ramsey. It was a similar event in my life that fueled my dream of writing. I always knew I wanted to teach, but I also harbored a secret dream of becoming a writer. That dream was not encouraged by anyone for many years. In fact all evidence pointed to the foolishness of harboring such a dream. But just as in Krista’s case it was one teacher and one particular day in a classroom that gave me the courage to continue to allow my dream of writing to percolate until its time. Without that one particular day and classroom experience, I doubt if I ever would have written the books that I have authored.

As Ms. Ramsey continued to talk with us about writing, an audience member posed the question, “How do I ever get the courage to call myself a writer? When am I a writer?”

I loved Ms. Ramsey’s response.

If we told ourselves we have the gifts we want to have, how much more of an impact could we have on the world?

BINGO. That, in a nutshell is the premise of my entire second book, TEACH…To Change Lives. A great teacher does reveal talents to their students, but they do so much more. They teach students how to discover, nurture, and have the courage to develop their own talents. Ultimately that is the foundation on which to build long term success in life…not just inside the classroom….but in life.

In today’s world we change, not just jobs, but frequently entire professions, multiple times if we want to continue to grow and succeed. Careers will exist within the next decade that are not even on the horizon today. We can’t possibly train our students for those careers currently. They aren’t in our textbooks or even measured on current standardized tests. But we can train students to recognize their talents and give them the courage to pursue those new careers as they emerge. THAT is precisely the most important job of an effective teacher.

I consider myself a teacher first. But that is not my entire identity. Sometime during my life path I became a professional speaker and then a writer. In truth, my ability to speak to and encourage a group of people is probably my greatest talent and yet I didn’t recognize that until I was in my forties. Thank goodness I had the courage to embrace that skill rather than deny it as something for which I didn’t have a college degree.. At the time I entered college I had never heard of a professional speaker. I didn’t know they existed. My books happened because audience members asked for them. They willed me to write my first book.

Back at the library someone asked Krista if she had written a book. Her reply? “Not yet.”

Whether or not a book exists, there are some things I know for certain after being in Ms. Ramsey’s presence for only about an hour. Krista Ramsey is an author. Her non-fiction books are already written, she just hasn’t put a book cover on them…yet. She could write marvelous fiction if she so desires. She is also an effective speaker and something of a philosopher. She could be a counselor if she made that her choice. The teaching profession lost a great teacher when she moved into journalism. I’m sorry for the students who didn’t get to have her daily influence. She certainly would have been a gal who would have taught in such a way that she would have changed lives in the process. She would have been just the kind of teacher who discovered multiple talents within her students and willed them toward those gifts.

Sometimes you feel a kinship with a person from across a room. I felt myself nodding in agreement at every statement she made. When I mustered the courage to speak she was nodding my way too.

And so it is with great teachers and their students. We learn from one another.

Show Your Work: Austin Kleon on the Art of Getting Noticed