A Natural

Teaching is both gift and craft, art and artifact. Sometimes it's just a lot of hard work. Some teachers are made, others born, and some should probably have gone into something else entirely. But today I saw someone teach who is born to the task, puts his heart into it, and is willing to labor to become better at the process.

He's not a teacher, per se, but a third-year medical student. I say, "per se," because he most definitely is a teacher, just not in the formal sense -- yet. We've been friends since the early days of our first term together, but today I saw him in a way I'd never seen before. He presented a lecture for second-year students to fulfill the requirements of his masters program -- a degree he will earn concurrently with his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine.

If you've ever witnessed someone do whatever it is they do with a natural presence, you know what I'm talking about. He was truly himself and the students responded as though he was their professor. I thought he was better than some paid instructors I've known. His humor was spontaneous and, perhaps because he is a student, he clearly understood what was important for his audience to know. Instead of getting lost in the details, he made the subject matter live and the applause he received at the end was vigorous and well-deserved.

I think it's safe to say a new face is standing in the doorway of medical education and his students are going to be very fortunate. I rather envy them because they're going to learn from someone who will be unable to forget what it's like to be one of them. He will remember late hours in the anatomy lab, meetings with the Dean discussing student concerns and long hours in the clinic because this is the kind of person he is. Modest, unassuming, and much appreciated for his contributions to his fellow students, he is going to be some kind of teacher. There's no doubt about it.