There are many reasons I love teaching, but the biggest gratification I get is when I look at the faces of my students and can see the light bulbs illuminate. I contend I can actually see the moment it happens, and the surge of happiness and satisfaction I get when it does happen propels me forward with an extra bit of energy and focus.
I’ve really been struggling with how best to explain a complicated concept in Dreamweaver for nearly six months now, and in front of a class of eight this morning (which was bigger by two people than I normally am able to teach), I continued struggling to find the right metaphor or way of explaining it so non-techies would get it. I usually describe the concept several times, each way changing my verbiage ever so slightly until I start to see glimmers of comprehension in the faces of most people. But I’ve never before seen the ripple of sudden, total comprehension in the class.
Until today.
Somehow, when I was 20 minutes into my struggle to explain, I lit upon a simple way of illustrating this concept on the chalkboard … with my back to the class as I explained and sketched, I could feel my heart rate pick up, and when I turned around, it was there. The lights were on. Everyone suddenly understood. We all recognized something magical had just happened, and the rest of the class was as good as any teaching I’ve ever done in my life.
I didn’t expect the “aha” moment to come in a morning when I’d had to deal with technical glitches galore, but it did, and it’s almost salvaged this day into something worthwhile.
Though between the sky-is-falling-inspired stress and the post-adrenaline-high exhaustion I now feel, I’d currently give just about anything for a nap. {yawn}