What My Teaching Experience Has Taught Me

I have taught for six years across different stages of education, including primary and secondary schools. I have also worked as a home lesson teacher, supporting both younger and older learners in their learning at home. Teaching across these different settings has taught me that learning rarely follows a linear or predictable path.

I can prepare a lesson, walk into a classroom with clear objectives, and watch it unfold differently from what I expected. One learner may understand something immediately, while another may need more time. A lesson that worked well one day may need to be approached differently the next day. For me, this is not a failure of the lesson plan. It is part of the dynamic nature of teaching.

A Lesson Plan Is a Guide, Not a Script

I am not the teacher who wants every lesson to follow the same pattern. I like to vary the pace, activities, examples, and ways of approaching a subject. One week, a lesson might be intensive; the next might be more relaxed or playful, giving students an opportunity to revisit what they have learned and make connections without always being prompted.

I do this because I do not believe that good teaching requires every lesson to look the same. Learning should have moments of discovery, curiosity, concentration, and even play.

A lesson plan gives me direction, but it does not determine everything that happens in a lesson. Sometimes I need to slow down. Sometimes I need to change an explanation or find a different example. Sometimes a student asks a question that takes the lesson somewhere I had not anticipated. I have learned to pay attention to those moments rather than trying to force the lesson back onto the path I originally planned.

Teaching Requires Observation

An educator is an observer as much as a teacher. Teaching is not only about presenting information. It is also about watching, listening, and paying attention. I notice a learner’s facial expressions, body language, hesitations, and even moments when their thoughts might have drifted away from the lesson. These signals often tell me whether what I am saying is actually reaching them.

An explanation that seems obvious to me may not make sense to a learner at all. This is easy to forget because, as teachers, we already understand the topics we are explaining. We have lived with the knowledge for much longer than the learner has. Teaching requires me to remember that difference. If I have planned to spend a certain amount of time on a topic and discover that the learner needs much longer time to understand it, I slow down. I would rather spend an entire lesson helping a learner understand one important concept than rush through to cover my lesson plan.

I Want My Students to Be Thinkers, Not Just Listeners

I do not want my students to simply receive information from me, reproduce it, and move on. I want them to develop thoughts of their own, even when those thoughts are different from mine. I want them to question information, interpret what they encounter, make connections, and sometimes show me something I had not noticed. This happens more often than I expect.

I might come to a lesson with examples prepared for a particular discussion, only for a student to introduce an entirely different example. Sometimes a learner notices something in an image that I had completely missed. Their observation can change the direction of the discussion and, sometimes, even change my own interpretation.

I remember working with an early learner on a picture storybook. I had prepared to discuss particular elements of the image, but the child noticed that one of the objects was a cupcake. I had not identified it that way. The child’s observation opened up another part of the picture and gave us something else to talk about. Moments like this remind me that the teacher does not always have to be the person with the final answer.

I try to be slow to talk and quick to listen. I give learners opportunities to explain what they see, ask questions, respond to one another, and sometimes even take on the role of teacher for a few minutes. Having a learner explain something to the rest of the class can change the energy of a lesson. Other students listen differently when one of their peers is speaking.

Encouragement also matters. Sometimes it is a word of praise. Sometimes it is asking the rest of the class to applaud a thoughtful answer. Sometimes it is simply acknowledging that a learner has noticed something important. These moments may seem small, but they can change how a child experiences learning.

Learning Requires Patience

I would rather spend an entire lesson helping a learner understand one important concept than rush through several concepts simply because they appeared on my plan. I am comfortable revisiting an idea more than once. If a learner still does not understand something, that gives me information. It tells me that I need to try again, perhaps differently.

I do not want a child to feel pressured to pretend to understand simply because I have moved on. A child should be able to say, “I don’t understand,” without feeling that they have disappointed the teacher. For me, patience is not about lowering expectations. It is about giving a learner the time and support necessary to reach those expectations.

On Curriculum

An idea can sound convincing in a book or research paper, but teaching gives you another way of looking at it. A curriculum, learning resource, or learning pathway may appear ideal in theory and still not be the right fit for a particular learner.

Every learner comes with different knowledge, experiences, habits, strengths, questions, and needs. So I see curriculum as a roadmap. An educator needs enough structure to know where learning is going, but enough flexibility to recognise when a learner needs to slow down, move ahead, revisit something, or approach it differently.

In this sense, teaching involves a willingness to try different approaches and pay close attention to what helps a learner move forward. Sometimes that means changing an explanation. Sometimes it means using a different example, activity, resource, or pace. The important thing is to remain attentive to the learner rather than assuming that one method will work for everyone.

Keeping My Teaching Practice Small

I have intentionally kept the teaching practice small. The Studio is not a large tutoring company with multiple teachers. It is a small teaching practice that allows me to remain closely involved in each learner’s learning process. I work with a limited number of learners in each studio term, keeping the teaching personal and focused.

A learner’s time with the Studio does not necessarily need to be long-term. As their learning develops and their needs change, they may complete one programme and move on to another programme or learning environment.

This smallness matters to me. It allows me to pay closer attention to individual learners, understand how they are developing, and give each learner my best. I do not see being small as a limitation. It is part of how I want the Studio to work.

I Am Still Learning

The Studio also gives me room to keep learning. I am still learning to teach well. The methods that worked for me several years ago cannot remain unchanged. Education continues to change. Our understanding of learning changes. Learners change. As a teacher, I have to be willing to change too.

Online teaching has also introduced new questions about attention, interaction, participation, technology, and how meaningful learning can happen through a screen. I am interested in continuing to think about these questions.

Why I Created the Studio

Calista’s Educational Studio is a learning ground for me as much as it is a place for sharing what I discover. I want to use the Studio to think more carefully about what happens when educational ideas meet particular learners.

My research, reading, writing, and teaching are threaded together. Research gives me questions to investigate. I want to understand educational systems, curriculum, pedagogy, and the different approaches used to help children learn. Reading introduces me to ideas and arguments. It also introduces me to books and resources that can change the way I think about teaching and learning. Teaching is where ideas meet practice. And writing gives me somewhere to think through what I am learning.

The Studio is therefore not built around the idea that I have found the perfect way to teach. It is built around the belief that good teaching requires continued attention, reflection, curiosity, and a willingness to learn.

Questions I Continue to Explore

These are some of the questions I will continue to explore. I do not expect to arrive at a perfect method. I want to keep learning, observing, refining, and paying attention to what happens when ideas meet actual learners.