I am a terrible teacher.  And I can prove it.  Twice. First the backstory . . . when I transitioned to the Principal’s office here at Libertas three years ago, I retained the responsibility of teaching one class.  Once a week, on a Friday, the last period of the day, I teach a large secondary Choir class to our 7th – 12th grade students.  That’s right, the final class before tweens and teenagers are released for the weekend is choir.  With their Principal.  

So, you can see the challenges I’m facing already.  Of course, I’ve prepared an Academic Map, and I subsequently follow carefully crafted lesson plans every single week to make sure our Secondary students get a great music education.  In fact, I have everything planned almost to the minute, so that, in the 50 minutes allotted to me, we cram in as many vocal warm-ups, music theory lessons, vocal singing, and other important aspects of this class as efficiently as possible.

Did you catch the word “cram”?  That is proof #1 that I am a terrible teacher.

Two weeks ago, I was so dogged determined to get through my beautiful plans that I found myself growing more and more frustrated with my students.  As I waxed eloquently, but very rapidly, on the fundamentals of musical notation, I could see their eyes glazing over.   Other physical manifestations showed me they were overwhelmed with the onslaught of information and beginning to tune me out (pun intended) as boys slouched in their seats, and girls fidgeted and whispered.  

What did I do?  I kept pressing on.  Even though they weren’t “getting” it, I just kept going.  Proof #2 that I’m a terrible teacher.

You see, I was putting the curriculum ahead of my students.  I was employing a check-the-box mentality instead of a check-for-understanding ethic.  Instead of “stirring in them an appetite that will never be completely sated” (Dr. George Grant, “Lifetime Learning:  The Nature and Vision of Classical Christian Education”), I was killing their appetite for learning and music.  

The good news is that I know better.  All of our teachers do.  We know that education is so much more than just getting through a curriculum.  Education is so much more than checking off boxes and making sure our students have fulfilled an arbitrary standard or passed a photocopied test.  As classical, Christian educators, we agree with the poet William Butler Yeats that “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” 

I was a terrible teacher that day, and I regretted it.  Our classical, Christian education students come here, to Libertas, for more than just the standard educational approach.  They come here for a deeper education, one that is vibrant and one that entices them to want to learn even more.  Our students work hard, make no mistake, but the goal is never about them just getting it done.  The goal is always to stir wonder and understanding and to ultimately, love learning through all of the subjects God has created.  

And they will.  Even if I’m a terrible teacher now and then.  

Holly Kalton
Head of School, Libertas Academy