One of the things I’ve struggled with in my pedagogy courses is the intensely personal nature of teaching. The ways in which a teacher creates an effective learning environment are directly dependent on the teacher’s personality. I would argue that some traits are necessary, i.e., consistency, humility, flexibility, but the ways in which instructors manifest these attributes will vary greatly.
How, then, do you ask students to be themselves if they have minimal self-awareness? What do you do if they understand “the personal nature of teaching†to mean “I’m doin’ it my way†?
