Teachers are the backbone of a structured system that educates people. But to only think about teachers as people who impart knowledge in a classroom or educational setting is a highly limiting belief which can deprive your child of some powerful benefits of teaching as a tool for effective learning. 

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Instead, let us think about the idea of teaching in 2 radically different ways. 

Both these ideas have the power to transform how your child is able to learn and how effective their learning is. 

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#1

The limiting belief:

Teachers are found in schools. Teachers teach subjects.

Alternate view:

‍Teachers are everywhere. They help us learn subjects, and so much more.

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There are many inspirational teachers found in classrooms - but if you think about every inspirational teacher you have heard of or been lucky enough to experience, you will see that their contribution has always gone beyond the ‘subject’. They are also great at challenging, inspiring and coaching learners in ways that can have a transformative effect. Lecturers, on the other hand, are people who come to a classroom and deliver canned curriculums for students to memorize.

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Let's not confuse the notion of teachers with lecturers. 

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There are many teachers out there, and chances are your child will not find these kinds of teachers in their classrooms. But if they know how to look, they will find the world around them is full of such teachers. 

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They will find that the greatest teachers are not necessarily restricted to a particular form! They can - and do - come in many forms, human and otherwise. Animals, experiences, books, and most definitely, our own failures and mistakes. They can be anywhere and are, indeed, everywhere! 

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When we have self-awareness about our learning process and a clear understanding of our purpose for learning something, we get better at identifying the right teachers and resources for ourselves. We get better at learning from every person, situation, encounter and experience.

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Effective learners know that teachers are everywhere. Finding the teachers that best help meet our learning goals is a learning skill.

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How to practice this idea with your kids:

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Finding your teachers - your own unique set of the best teachers or resources for whatever it is you are trying to learn - is a critical lifelong learning skill in itself. 

Help your child understand that their teachers are not just the 5 people who teach them English, Math and Science in school. 

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If your child wants to learn carpentry, coding, football, piano or quadratic equations, encourage them to assemble a list of resources and teachers they would like to learn from and why. Then support them in their quest to access those resources and teachers (without actually handing it to them on a platter. 

Encourage them to think beyond the obvious: apprenticing with the neighborhood carpenter may be far more valuable than signing up with an online crafts class .

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Don’t fall into the trap of ‘my job as a parent is to smooth the path as much as possible so my child can concentrate on ‘learning’. Encourage them to identify and access their own teachers and resources.

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This approach will challenge them to:

• Arrive at some clarity on their learning goals and own them
• Have clarity on the resources they need to achieve those goals
• Have clarity on what to ask for and expect from a teacher or mentor
• Be comfortable with their own unfiltered learning experience

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#2

Limiting belief:

Teachers are people who teach us 

Alternate view:

Teachers learn the most when they teach

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Robert Heinlein, the famous science fiction writer and all-round genius said, 

“When one teaches, two learn”. 

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This is the simplest and truest quote I could find to explain the core of this point. 

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The second limiting mindset we have about teaching is that teachers are more knowledgeable people imparting learning to a less knowledgeable person. So teaching in that sense is seen as someone giving something to someone else. Namely knowledge.

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Let us invert this limiting belief. What if we saw teaching as the best form of learning? 

The best way for your child to learn is not to ‘be taught’, but to teach others. 

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To make the most of this insight, let’s stop teaching or quizzing children.

Let them be the teacher instead. That is the best way for them to learn. Have no pressure about them getting the teaching content right at this stage. When they ‘teach’ us something, a concept or an idea or a topic even, they are recalling, connecting, making meaning, simplifying and breaking it down in their own heads. 

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But don’t take my word for it. Richard Feynman, a Nobel prize winning scientist and author says we learn information better when we explain it to someone else. This insight has been distilled into what is now called the Feynman Learning Technique, which involves explaining a concept you are trying to learn to a six-year old (real or imagined) or even a rubber duck! If you can’t explain something to someone simply, then you probably don’t understand it well enough.

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Encourage your child to break down the concept and be prepared to answer the most basic and fundamental questions effectively, as they teach it. This approach helps them really connect and make meaning of what they are learning, instead of memorizing information or masking a lack of fundamental understanding with jargon, definitions and long winded explanations.

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Here is a real-life example of this approach in practice. 

Every Saturday, me and my kids do a one hour session where they set me a question paper, and check my answers, in subjects such as science, English, and math. Then, they explain - or teach - me all the answers I got wrong (which between you and me, I often get wrong on purpose), and have useful discussions with me on the ones I got right. 

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More often that you can imagine, they offer staggeringly good and deceptively simple advice on how I could think about the problem better, or differently. 

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How to practice this idea with your kids:

• Every week, instead of giving them quizzes and tests, encourage them to set a question paper.
• Ask them to quiz you -  deliberately throw in a few incorrect answers. Not only will they give you the correct answers, they will learn the art of empathy and giving constructive feedback. 
• Encourage them to edit a composition you have written, offering suggestions on better structure, brevity, grammar and punctuation. This practice can be made age appropriate for any age learners. 
• Recreate study dates by encouraging kids to teach each other skills - where they give each other workshops on stuff they believe they know
• Instead of creating a high-pressure ‘test’ situation during the process of learning something, ask your child to explain it to an imaginary character. For example, explain the concept, properties, forms, and uses of water to an alien who has just landed on Earth and doesn’t know what it is. Or explain the concept of addition to their pet puppy. 

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Those are the two big ideas to reframe the notion of teaching for early learners, tweens and teens. 

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1. Teachers are everywhere - not just in schools.
2. Teaching is the best form of learning.

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So, it is true! Teaching has the power to transform your child's learning journey. But mostly when they are the teacher themselves!

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Enjoyed this? Here are more of my recommendations:

5 Ineffective Study Habits We Are Leaving Behind

Our 'Observe-Ask-Share' Technique for Effective learning at Home

The Turning Point in Our learning to Learn Journey

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