A Teaching Handbook for Wiccans and Pagans Read Online Free PDF Page A

very, very well.
    Melanie Henry told me:
    No matter how mellow they might seem, or how young and full of beans, or whatever, every student brings you new problems that you have to learn to solve, and if you’re going to teach something like the Craft, some of those problems will be very big.
    An example from my own experience is the emotional impact teaching high school initially had on me. I taught tenth-grade English in a tough school in a low-income neighborhood in a large city. The school had metal detectors, a police officer, and a clinic and daycare for students’ children on-site. My students were from a wide variety of backgrounds, many of them lived below the poverty line, and fourteen languages were spoken in my first-hour class alone. Since I taught English and writing essays was part of the curriculum, my students would often write about their own life experiences, and some of the things they would disclose were so awful—rape; sexual, physical, and emotional abuse; gang violence; drug abuse; time spent in refugee camps literally being tortured—that I’d feel angry, devastated, sad, and helpless. Most of all, I wanted to fix everything, which I obviously couldn’t even begin to do. If I hadn’t eventually learned to shield a lot of my students’ energy and not take their pain home with me, I would have been a complete wreck.
    The energetic impact on the teacher is a consideration too. Some students are very needy and naturally latch on to a teacher, and, in worst-case scenarios, they might inadvertently drain your energy unless you learn how to shield. Even if that doesn’t happen, it takes a fair amount of energy to be a teacher—to stand in front of a class or devise a curriculum or mentor someone. It’s important to ask yourself if you have the energy and shielding skills necessary to teach.
    Questions Before You Begin
    Whether you feel great, excited, terrified, enthusiastic, nervous, angry, or nauseated at the idea of teaching—and believe me, you might feel all of those emotions—it’s a good idea to ask yourself the following questions before you begin.
    Why Do You Want to Teach, and
What Do You Want to Get Out of It?
    Knowing why you’re teaching is vitally important. More specifically, having your expectations somewhat in line with what you might actually get out of teaching is vitally important, so you’re realistic and not disappointed. If you are interested in serving your gods and the community, helping others grow spiritually, and/or passing on your path, you are more likely to be happy teaching than if you are interested in making money, becoming the Pagan High Muckety-Muck of your community, having disciples, or becoming a nationally known BNP (Big-Name Pagan). One thing is for certain: the more ego-centered your reasons for teaching are, the less likely you are to be happy teaching.
    Are You Hesitating? Why?
    If you are hesitating about beginning to teach because of the time, energy, or financial commitment, then you probably have a pretty good sense of what you can and can’t offer the community at this time. This is good. If you are reluctant to teach because teaching doesn’t speak to you, it’s good to acknowledge that too.
    Do You Know Your Stuff?
    Good Pagan teachers don’t have to be omnipotent geniuses, but they should have a firm grounding in their material.
    Patrick McCollum told me:
    If you’re going to be a Pagan teacher, you have to know your stuff. So you can’t just go get a book on Wicca and decide that you’re a teacher. You really need to be around for a while and experience and be interacting with other teachers and other groups and other forms of Paganism and such to have a bigger picture of what’s going on before you can really take on the role of teaching in a bigger way. Obviously, if you’re in your own little circle and you’ve got five or ten people in it and no one