Teaching: Gift or Skill?

Choose a career. Be it in sports, acting, or music, one must have a certain amount of "God given" talent to reach the pinnacle of success in their chosen profession. Who among us could soar to the heights of Michael Jordan, act like Meryl Streep, or play the cello like Yo-Yo Ma. Those who excel not only have this innate talent, but they are dedicated to honing their skills. Jerry Rice perhaps the greatest pass receiver of all time was legendary for his practice routine and violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman had to practice a minimum of three hours a day to maintain his standard of excellence.

That being said, any of us can improve on our ability at any skill, with some practice—and teaching is both a gift and a skill. Like a fine wine good and great teachers should get better with age. I count myself blessed to have had a long, fruitful, and rewarding teaching career, and if I didn't believe that I could help people improve their classroom management and teaching skills, I would never have written my recently published book Ready-Set-Teach! 101 Tips for Classroom Success. 

It is unrealistic to think that all teachers will be great teachers. But, it should be each teacher's goal to be the best they can be. To those who excel, teaching is a calling. It is a fantastic career, always challenging and rewarding at the same time. To be a great teacher one needs to connect with students and inspire them, bring meaning to what they do, take a personal interest in every student, and give of your time.

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