Teachers are, of course, expected to have a pretty high understanding of what they teach. However, throughout my last several years of education, I have realized how beneficial it can actually be to have a teacher that is learning right along with you. In my experience, students respect teachers much more if they are willing to admit when they do not know the answer to a question right away. It actually sends a message of respect to students, to bridge the gap between a distant student-teacher relationship to treating them as an equal learner. Background knowledge of curricular content is still necessary among teachers, including historical, literary and other contexts. Still, the pressure to be able to cite every literary fact immediately isn’t exactly necessary. Students are aware of the fact that the real world is filled with resources, and the knowledge of how to utilize those is just as valuable as subject knowledge. Showing students that you as a teacher are a human and not a search engine, but that you can use a search engine, is an effective way to teach subject matter. Again, teachers create the path that is leading students from the classroom to places where they will be reaching their full potential.
Again, creativity is also a large component in how I teach what I teach. I relish in creating connections from the past, present, and future, and it creates relevance for students. I enjoy finding new ways to make these connections with students, noting that their perspectives bring fresh ideas with every unit I teach. Dr. Lauren Gatti has an insightful essay about strategies to create relevance to students in books written long ago. After all, what makes these books canonical is that their messages are endearing over time. Although we do teach books from long ago, we are still learning from them, and this is an amazing idea to bring to students. It motivates them to think on deeper levels and come to new conclusions about subject matter.
Bridging the Gaps 