Teaching Students or a Subject

This is not a particular new question, but. . . how do you answer the question, "What do you teach?" Of course, most of us will say our discipline. Do you ever say, "Students?"

This hit me again the other day after listening to an exchange between a colleague and one of her students. Life is like that--a glimpse, a smell, a sound, a touch--can evoke deep and broad connections.

I like my students, but I don't see my job as teaching them as much as teaching a subject. This is probably because I am a firm believer in self-learning. WE learn best what we learn ourselves, in motion, not as passive sponges.

What do you think? Does it really matter how we answer that question?

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