I had a great Twitter conversation with Hugh MacLeod @gapingvoid – about masters having students. He said:
gapingvoid Hugh MacLeod
All masters have students, whether they want them or not. That’s why they’re masters.
We then had this Twitter conversation about teachers and masters, and how they were once students. It’s the responsibility of the master to teach the student. But I loved what he tweeted last. Hugh said that,
gapingvoid Hugh MacLeod
The more rewarding I find teaching, the less I have to do it for the money.
I gained a few insights from the conversation:
First of all, it was great to talk to an author and a pretty smart one at that. It was great that he took the time to have the conversation – which is something that Twitter affords us today. You just have to tweet things that are reply-worthy.
Second, masters have such a huge responsibility. I kept thinking about this idea, and I tweeted this morning that A master teacher brings dissonance and disruption in your life, and they don’t just affirm the things that you already know.
Third, the joy that you gain from teaching – truly teaching is so much more rewarding that the money that you get doing it. This is such a great insight from a master himself. It’s such a simple idea, but it’s not so simple to grasp.
As teachers, we have such a unique opportunity to shape and mold minds. It makes me wonder what I have to do in order to become a master teacher. Even though students want the answers, my responsibility is to challenge the way that they think. I should disrupt and cause dissonance. One day, I’d like to be able to say that the more rewarding i find teaching, the less I have to do it for money.
Thanks Hugh.
identitySPECIALIST 
I love this. I think about the crazy influence I have as a teacher, and it kind of freaks me out. At this moment I’m writing curriculum for a class I’m hopefully going to teach next year about world religions and ethics. I was literally just thinking, “I want to jar my students out of their current thinking and let them explore the world in a way they never have.”
It’s fun to be able to do that, but sometimes the plan doesn’t work.
That’s exciting that you’re developing a class. Where will you teach this class?