When it comes to being a good instructor we can talk about a lot of things. We can discuss not having your ego in the way and that it’s about your student and not you, or we can talk about being enthusiastic about the material, or we can discuss truly caring about making your student better, or we can talk about being a good and continuing student yourself. But perhaps the most important aspect to being a good instructor is something that is little discussed.

That little discussed part is the inherent belief in your own fallibility. We have to always assume that we don’t know everything and that we can be wrong at any given moment. We have to remember that we’ve been wrong in the past, we are probably wrong about something in the present and we will certainly be wrong at some point in the future. 

It is easy as a successful instructor to start to believe your own hype. You most certainly will have students who are very happy with your teaching and will pat you on the back. Perhaps your peers and even people you look up to as mentors will also compliment you on your prowess . While this is something that makes you feel good it can also be Insidious and lead you to believe that you are perfect. And none of us are. Ever.

All of us , from the newest teacher to the instructor who has been doing it for 40+ years, are susceptible to the same things. We can be wrong. We won’t know everything at all times. We may not have the depth of experience to be able to properly instruct every single student that comes across our threshold. Understanding that is key to making sure that we  are always testing ourselves and our material and our instructional capability by diligent study and making sure we have people who can help keep us in check.

This is an important aspect  – i.e. apprenticeship –  that is lost on many people in today’s modern society where apprenticeship is not really followed or understood in most areas. Unlike most of the centuries past where all the important skills in society were passed down from Master to Apprentice, today people, thanks to the internet and even more so social media, can start to believe they know things before they truly KNOW things.  Having a mentor or mentors who can guide you on your path and help to steer you correctly as well as having peers and friends who care enough about you to call  you on your own BS when appropriate is a key part of ensuring that you are always going to be doing your best as a teacher to your own students.

Don’t believe your own hype, assume you may have stumbled and made a mistake, and find trusted people that you can rely on to keep you moving forward in the best way possible. Only then do we deserve the title of teacher.