A little insight about teaching!

I am about to date myself! I haven't been a student in the college/university stream in over a decade and it is nearly two decades since I was in high school but September always brings back mixed emotions.

As we creep closer to the start of another school year I start to have vivid dreams about the year to come and the work to be done combined with the anticipation of seeing those friends we miss over summer holidays.

Years later, I now teach in schools and feel a new kind of excitement and dread. Will my students be receptive? Will I be able to give them my best help, including honest critique, as they learn new skills and try to navigate the world of art, goldsmithing, and business? The flip side being the excitement of  learning what glorious things students and teachers alike have been making all summer. But my favourite part of meeting a new class is learning which one of my students will amaze me during the year and teach me something new.

This yin and yang of the student/teacher relationship is probably what has kept me interested all of these years. I love the idea that I can have an impact on what someone knows and does just by sharing my passion for goldsmithing. I am always pushing myself to stay on my toes so that I can attempt to inspire the same drive in the students I meet throughout the year.

When everyone thinks back over their years of education most of us can pin point at least one teacher we thought was excellent. I hold a couple special ones in my heart and strive to emulate their standards, knowing all the while, I may never reach their level of excellence.

So on that note, I hope everyone going back to school has a mixed bag of emotions to draw energy from and those without formal plans continue to push themselves in new and slightly terrifying ways as well!