Teaching is working with small and large groups of students, advising them on matters related to their intellectual development as well as to their life, being an ethical role model for them, encouraging them to do their best work, to do more than they thought they could do, pushing, pulling, moving along with them into new areas of understanding. Teaching is a privilege. Teaching is research, that is, it is the active pursuit of new knowledge, new ideas, and new connections which can make fresh the daily venture into the unknown. I learn from my peers, as I hope they learn from me through my activity as a publishing scholar. Those new connections frequently get played out in the classroom where students can analyze and challenge them, thereby remaining fresh and open.
Teaching is tolerance.
It is the need to remain open to new thoughts while at the same time subjecting misguided, uninformed, or prejudiced views to scrutiny. These thoughts border on the hackneyed, I know, but the simple truth is that the thrill of intellectual engagement with young people is incalculable and infinitely enriching. It is, as I said above, magical. May I forever be under its spell.