Why Do We Teach?

I very recently started reading The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin.  On page 4 she writes, "They say that people teach what they need to learn.".  I'm not sure how I feel about that statement, being a teacher.  I teach knitting and crochet at a LYS on a regular basis, and I love it!  It makes me very happy to share my passion with others, and I feel my real motivation for teaching is just that.  I've even been told by my mom that as a young child, when asked what I wanted to do when I grew up, my responses was to "teach people crafts".

Some of my best childhood memories have to do with knitting and other crafts.  I have been drawn to creating things for as long as I can remember.  I am told that I learned how to knit when I was 3 years old.  I can honestly say that, like learning to walk and talk, I can't really remember the learning part.  Its just something I have always known how to do.  However, I do remember, after watching my mom knit all the time, asking her if she would "show me how to do that".  It is a vivid memory from the first house I ever lived in, so I do know it had to have been from before I started school.

After moving to our new house, I have a memory of the thrill of knitting a pleated skirt for my stuffed panda bear, which I had also knit and sewn together.  I was amazed at how, by simply changing between knit and purl stitches, I could create these perfect folds in my little pink baby skirt.  It felt like I had performed some kind of magic!  And there was the Mary Maxim kit that my mom gave me to learn Fair Isle and Intarsia colour-work techniques, and the satisfaction of giving my stylishly knit potholders to my favourite great aunt, Jessie.

Then, during junior high, I started getting books out of the public library about knitting.  I wasn't much for reading novels, like my best friend, but I could eat up a book on knitting techniques.  That was when I first learned short rows and 3-needle bind-off for creating 'professional looking shoulder seams'.  And, again, it felt like I had performed some kind of magic!

All these wonderful knitting memories I treasure, and I love sharing all that 'magic' I learned with others.  I revel in the "Ah hah!" moments, and nothing feels better than when a student falls in love with knitting, and seeing their enthusiasm and passion grow!  So that is why I teach.

Although, I have to admit, it is not like I don't ever learn anything from my students.  I have learned a bit about what it must feel like to learn something like knitting as an adult, without the safety net of a knowledgable mom to help you out when things go wrong.  I think I have learned through my students how to be a better teacher.  I have even learned a thing or two about knitting in the process.  And, I've learned a lot about people, and have had the great opportunity, through teaching, to get to know so many wonderful ones!  So maybe, in some not-so-direct way, I do teach what I need to learn.  Or, at least I learn because I teach.  And I'm just fine with that!