The Magic of Teaching

I was reviewing students' papers tonight -- an analysis of an educational current event -- and noticed the analyses weren't coming out quite as I had expected. It was clear that there's some confusion about the assignment as well as the theoretical frameworks being used for the analysis. I started to see some patterns and realized the potential for some really great teaching & learning here. So tomorrow we'll talk about theoretical frameworks and how they affect our interpretation of an event. What happens when we apply a positivist/rationalistic framework? How does the analysis change when we apply a critical theorist perspective? What impact does a postmodern framework have on our understanding? I have to say that I like being able to take something and identify where more teaching & learning can occur. This is really the magic of teaching, I think ... noticing patterns of understanding or not-quite-understanding then building on that to help develop new insights. It's late and I'm not as insightful about this as I might otherwise be ... but I'm feeling this. It's like ... "Hey, I can make a difference here in helping others understand these concepts." That's a nice place to be.