“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge” – Albert Einstein.
Teaching to me is closer to art than it is to a profession. It is the application of creative skills and imagination in a structured classroom setting. Every day in the life of a teacher is different and every day is an opportunity for me to help shape future generations. I am very thankful for being able to practice this supreme level of art on a daily basis. Everything I teach is connected to real-world challenges and opportunities. This is the foundation for making content relevant and interesting. My goal is to prepare students for whatever life path they choose and to be a starting point for a never-ending journey of learning. To accomplish these goals, I focus on a joyful and encouraging community environment in my classroom. I want my students to go home with a smile on their face, a positive outlook on life and the desire to come back and learn more. Motivated learners don’t need someone to tell them what to do. They will ask, research, think out of the box, be creative and they will be successful in expressing their ideas and conclusions in any professional setting.
Having years of work experience in various professional environments, I know that employers and investors are looking for great personalities, creative thinkers and people with a vision. Content is often secondary as most professions are highly specialized and require on-the-job training. Therefore, I focus on team building activities, inquiry based learning and the development of social skills in my teaching methods. Students are encouraged to work with everyone in the classroom regardless of ethnicity, language, race or any other factors of diversity. Everyone is respected equally.
Let’s get to business. Business education includes many different skill developing sub-categories, such as accounting, marketing, finance, economics, entrepreneurship, digital literacy and various computer applications. Every single topic is relatable to current events, politics and real life skills. Business and technology are surrounding us all every day and it is important for any student to be able to navigate through this environment successfully. Knowing math, science and politics is a good start, but being able to apply this knowledge in a real-world setting is even more important.
Let’s be international. My heritage is German, European and therefore, international. English is a Germanic language and German is the most widely spoken language in Europe. It is actively spoken by about 95 million people worldwide. If we want the next generation to be open-minded, culturally diverse and able to work internationally, we need to expose children as early as possible to foreign languages. Going back to my original quote, I find a lot of art in language acquisition. It challenges the way students think and it opens their minds to new ways of expressing themselves. These are crucial elements of learning to me. Conclusively, I want to highlight the word “joyful” again. I want my students to be happy inside and outside the classroom. I want to empower them in their learning journey and I want to help them as best as I can along the way.