Exercises in Listening

I often write about the importance of listening in teaching. I have said that learning to listen well is perhaps the single most important thing that a teacher of depth can do.
To me it seems that those who most need to improve their listening are the ones who are least likely to ask how. [...]

November 24th, 2007 | Tags: , , | Category: Excellence in Teaching | 8 comments

Listen to Me

I recently had the opportunity to speak with a teacher of many decades who spoke about himself at some length.
Anyone who teaches speaks about themselves. We teach through our personalities, through what we believe important enough to pass on to students. Whatever our subject may be, we offer those aspects of it that best [...]

November 19th, 2007 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Why Teach When there are Books?

There are countless spiritual texts in the world, some of them profound and meaningful. Why then, do we teach? Why not simply hand the student some books, and say “read these — all you need is here”?
There are times when a book is or passage is just the right thing. Because the [...]

November 12th, 2007 | Category: Other Voices | 3 comments

Deep Teaching: Connectedness

This is the sixth article in this series.
Everything you teach touches on the student’s connection to the world. Art history or auto mechanics — it all connects. It cannot help but do so. Whether you believe in God, a universal energy, the beauty of physics, the elegance of logic, or none of [...]

November 2nd, 2007 | Category: Deep Teaching | 2 comments