In Teaching with a Clear Signal I explored teaching by presenting one clear thing at a time to create trust and authenticity. How do we find this clear thing in ourselves?
There are times when pretense is called for in teaching. Teaching is often a dramatic work. But when you mean to present a clear signal, perhaps most useful is aspect of dramatics that is focused on enhancing what is existant rather than the aspect of pretending what is not. This is not so different from what we do day to day, presenting one side of ourselves at work, and another at home. In teaching, our intent to be excellent asks us to present these different facets of ourselves as consciously and deliberately as possible. To be self-aware in our presentation.
When it comes to creating yourself in a genuine way before your students, it is useful to know how to first create clarity in yourself so that you can convey it if you choose, however you choose. A student can more accurately sense your disconnection from your own integrity, from your own clarity, than they can your disconnection from any facts.
That is, you can be speaking a factual truth but be disconnected from your internal clarity, causing the student to percieve a factual lie. This can be frustrating for the teacher who is not aware of this subtle dynamic, or of how their presentation plays into this. We can easily believe we are being genuine, and at least to some students, present the opposite. There are many components to this particular issue, including culture and language, and many other things not particularly to do with internal clarity.
Internal clarity is where we originate our presentation. How do we develop this in ourselves? First we might learn to find unclear signals in ourselves and find ways to untangle them. This requires us to be willing to look at ourselves without harshness or pride or fear. Part of our work as teachers of depth is to learn to look inside and see what is there.
And so we look. What then?
One approach is this: we can create a clearer signal out of any thought we have by taking the thought apart, by stripping it down to component parts, by putting aside anything that is extra.
For example, “This class is too hard for me” is a conceptual and emotional construct. Of what is it made? Be as specific as possible and see if you can find the essential, indivisible elements that construct this concept. Take each piece apart, clean off the extra, and see what remains.
My offered practice is obvious: take a thought or feeling and take it apart until the signal is as clean as you can make it.