Teaching Metaphor

Teaching is Like a Terrarium.

Teaching is not a process of just pouring information on students and hoping that students will absorb it all and grow from it. This method may work for a short time, but the problem is, students become completely dependent on a teacher to learn. Just like a potted plant, they are completely dependent upon a routine showering of water from someone else. But what happens when the plant's care giver leaves? The plant will eventually wither and die because it had no means of collecting the water (or information) for itself.

I think that teaching should be a process of instilling students with curiosity, and modeling skills so that they can learn independently. It is a teacher's responsibility to provide an environment and proper resources so that students can become like an enclosed terrarium and are able to sustain the necessary elements of life (or learning) on their own. The students are no longer dependent on a watering can, but are able to continue a cycle of learning from within because they were taught to be curious, to ask questions, and how to go about finding answers on their own.