Welcome to the Teaching Tree

About half a year ago, I qualified for the Grandmaster League in the multiplayer real-time strategy game Starcraft II. It means you're one of the best players in your region. It was an achievement that I'm still proud of - hours upon hours of practice every day, training every combination of keys imaginable, watching my replays, optimising my keyboard shortcuts, doing the same things over and over again until my wrists were sore...




and losing games.

Losing game upon game upon game, the feeling of defeat etched permanently into my mind, a constant reminder of the fact I wasn't good enough, that there were thousands of more people more skilled than me, that they could all crush me into the ground with ease.

Watching the replays of the games I lost. Analysing and breaking down my losing games, finding reason upon reason for my defeats, and coming face to face with myself.

A constant reminder of my own ineptitude, of my own experience, of my own incapability.

I became afraid of the game. Do I want to play another game, another game that I risk losing? Do I want another reminder of my failures, of my inabilities?

One day I was reading a thread on a forum, and someone posted a picture that transformed my view of the game. That transformed my views on skills in general.

Someone had taken a screenshot of the matchmaking screen, and edited it so that the "Play" button was replaced by a "Click here to improve" button.

It seems kind of trivial, right? Only one image, viewed for barely ten seconds. But whenever I came back to that screen, whenever I thought of clicking on the "Play" button again, I remembered the image. I dreamed of becoming a better player, becoming like the professional players that I admired so much. With that thought in mind, I clicked "Play" with confidence. With the confidence that the next game would send me on that path to improvement, whether I won or lost.

I began actively seeking losses, actively seeking players better than me. Searching for my own flaws, and confronting them one by one.


I started off in Bronze League, just like many others. Being in the bottom 20% of all players. Being one of the worst Starcraft players in the world.

Now I'm one of the top 200 players in my entire region. When I play Starcraft, I still occasionally get wiped out by a player better than me. But I'm okay with that now. I remember the journey I took to get there, and I know that I made it, and that I could do it again if I wanted to.

If I wanted to, I could put in the hours, and climb upwards again. I could aim to be one of the top 200 players in Korea, where the professionals and elite reside. Then aim to win tournaments, to move towards international competition, to aim to climb to the very top.



It kind of makes me think, hey, isn't this possible with teaching as well?

Which (finally) brings us back to what this blog is about. It's about my journey to becoming a better teacher, to improve my teaching skills, and to educate the living daylights out of every student I meet.

teacher

ˈtiːtʃə

noun

noun: teacher; plural noun: teachers

a person who teaches, especially in a school.

I want to become someone who inspires. I want to become someone who communicates information in a clear, concise, and interesting way. I want to become a beacon for the students, someone they can trust and follow. And this is my journey, I suppose. My journey of becoming a grandmaster, in the realm of teaching.

Teaching isn't quite like Starcraft, in many ways. You aren't competing with other teachers, so you don't get negative feedback. You don't 'lose', in a sense, because in this world it's okay to just be an 'okay' teacher.

In this world, if you put in the minimum hours, if you explain what you know to students, then that's 'good enough'. You are successful, you have achieved what you need to achieve, and that's it! You're 'okay'! There's no incentive to go further, no incentive to improve, no incentive to become better.

Why actively improve yourself if you're not losing?

For me, the minimum standards are not nearly enough. I need to become more skilled, I need to communicate and plan efficiently, and I need to provide the highest standards of education. The standards of education that the students deserve.

I am a course TA for a university class that teaches computing, and I believe that students deserve teachers who have the highest standards of education. I believe that students deserve teachers who will fight to make their teaching better, teachers who have the energy and spirit to teach.

Teachers who seek to become grandmasters of their craft.

My name is climbtrees, this is my road to grandmastery of teaching, and I'm keen to climb this new tree, this tree of pedagogical proficiency.

Enjoy your stay here - hopefully it will be an exciting one.