Tessa Cordes

I think of a teacher as a spaceship mechanic and a student as an astronaut. A teacher’s job is not just to teach but to equip their students for both life and a career after school. A mechanic is there to give the astronaut the tools they may need to fix the ship while in space, while also fueling and preparing the ship. Teaching is like fueling the ship, the teacher is giving the student the knowledge they may need to accomplish the tasks set before them, or in this case to fly. The mechanic may also give the astronaut tools to fix the ship themselves. In the end the teacher’s goal is to help the student get to the place where they can come up with their own solutions. Like that quote attributed to Confucius which is "Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you've fed him for a lifetime.", a teacher is not just trying to fill their students with information. Instead they are trying to equip them to be able to accomplish new tasks and give them the tools to do their own critical thinking.

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Also, just as the astronaut launches into space, the student takes what they have been taught and leaves the school. A teacher can only hope that the student will use their instruction, but in the end, it is up to the student if they will or not. Hopefully if an astronaut is in need they can radio in and the mechanic can give them advice, but in a dire situation it is up to the astronaut to know what to do.  Similarly, when a student has left if the teacher has done a good job the student should always feel welcome to come back and talk to their old instructor. In the day to day though the student should hopefully have been equipped sufficiently to stand on their own two feet and be able to handle the situations that face them. When I think of what it means to be a teacher it means to equip your students with the tools to live.