Ian Bower

I thought it was a very interesting question in my interview process when my would be boss asked me "How to you think the students are going to react to your dry sense of humor?" At the time I remember thinking "Who the hell cares what they think?" Well, I learned pretty quickly that while "staying true to yourself" seems to be the motto that everyone wants to put on a shirt - Sometimes you need to adjust that. When your personality has the potential to be prohibitive to the learning experience, you need to consider how to change it.

I found this particularly interesting as it relates to my teaching for one particular reason. As a Chef I have to slightly adjust "Who I am" when I am teaching compared to when I am leading a kitchen. I found out pretty quickly that students really start to balk if you try to be their "Boss" instead of the mentor. This has meant learning a little bit about myself and also, measuring my responses before giving them.