What is education? Is it telling a student what you want them to learn and then having them copy a sentence 100x? Is it dictating a lesson by rote and demanding he memorizes and then repeats back verbatim what you said? Or is it working with the student to learn how he learns best and then leading the student to discover new things on his own? Is it developing in that student a desire to search out treasures of wisdom he might not have seen without delving further into the mine of knowledge?
While rote memory has a place in learning, I believe that learning takes place best when the teacher figures out what makes her student curious about new things. Students learn best when they are inspired to reach new heights—when they must dig down into the mine themselves and then bring up the gold to share with others. They learn best when they are thirsty for knowledge and reach for it on their own. It is the teacher’s goal to present new topics and ideas in a way that peaks her student’s curiosity and motivates him to learn.
One of my favorite music educators, Zoltan Kodaly, said, “Teach music and singing at school in such a way that it is not a torture but a joy for the pupil; instill a thirst for finer music in him, a thirst which will last for a lifetime.” I love music with a passion and want the same for my students; I want them to enjoy playing the piano and to make the instrument sing from their fingertips. I want them to appreciate the wonder of music as it has existed from the very beginning of creation. My teaching comes with a desire to inspire—a desire that my students will taste the tip of the musical iceberg and will continue wanting more as they progress in their learning.
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge,” Albert Einstein
“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery,” Mark van Doren
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires,” William Arthur Ward