Those who can't do- teach?

In the past when I considered teaching drama being my job, I always thought that it would be my back up plan, not something that would be enjoyable or rewarding. I had regarded teaching as me failing to succeed in gaining a career as a performer and that I would be seen as a failure for doing it. Although I still regard teaching as a back up career, and would rather perform for a living, I have developed more respect for teaching as a profession after teaching drama to children for the past couple of years.

I would argue that it actually requires more skill than performing, as teaching involves being able to perform yourself, and then teaching that to children while keeping the lesson fun and engaging. To teach well, a person must be able to find interesting ways of passing on their skills to others and be sensitive to every child's different needs. Even just teaching for an hour can be exhausting as a teacher has to be aware of multiple things at once. Being in control of around twenty children can be harder than it looks!

The impact of a good teacher stays with a child as it grows up, most people have a teacher that they still remember into adulthood for either good reasons or bad. When I see children genuinely improving and becoming more confident in my drama lesson, or when I figure out how to get the best out of a difficult group I feel like I have accomplished something. The statement that "Those who can't do, teach" is paradoxical, because it's impossible to teach something you can not do. Teachers can "do" and can also "teach".