Life through the Lens of Learning

For the past 3 weeks I have been immersed in both teaching and learning. For five years I have been teaching Temple University OT students about motor learning and neurodevelopmental treatment.    It is an intense 2 weeks, equaling 20 hours of teaching, and though it creates mild havoc in my schedule, I love it. 

Why, with all the added intensity of preparation and teaching do I enjoy teaching so much?”  By asking myself this, I realize that teaching helps me assess what I know, what I don’t know, how I can learn what I don’t know, and what is important to teach. It is exciting to read and learn in my profession as well as other related fields.  Then I enter the classroom.  Thirty-four graduate students open up and engage with me and their own learning.  

A day later I am a participant in a workshop on ADHD and a week later a certification program for a skill building program for caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s and other related dementias.  The tables are turned, I am the student; I open up and engage and learn.  

I complete this period with new energy, information and ideas.  I immediately begin to apply my new learning, testing it, playing with it and integrating it into my knowledge-base.  This exchange as teacher/learning is the perfect paradigm for life, regardless of your occupational roles, whether you are a teacher, parent, student or worker.  Every day offers us lessons to learn and opportunities to teach, directly or through role-modeling, and in doing so we grow and flourish, find satisfaction and contribute to those around us.