Cum . . . docemus, discimus.
(Sergius)

pron = koom doh-KAY-moos, DIS-kih-moos.

While we teach, we learn.

Comment: I read an essay a few years ago (the author of which I have forgotten) which played further on this truth that every teacher knows. The essay claimed that when we teach, in fact, there are three things we are teaching, and the degree to which we are aware of this is the degree to which our teaching can be truly helpful, or really destructive.

1) We teach a subject matter--the obvious.

2) We teach human beings--what should be obvious,but which is often forgotten in the zeal, or burden, or comfort of teaching our subject matter.

3) We teach our own lives. This is the piece that, perhaps, teachers are least aware of. Just as our students come in the door with entire lives that exist outside of our classrooms, so do teachers. Teachers can try to shed all of that at the door, or conveniently "forget" that at the door, but it will silently follow us in. Whatever issues we are running from, or repressing, or afraid of will show up in our classrooms in some pretty consistent ways. LIkewise, what we have embraced, faced and truly know about ourselves become vehicles of our own teaching.

So, when we teach a subject, we are learning it. When we teach other human beings, we are learning something more about what it means to be human. When we teach our lives, we are learning more about the mystery of who we are.