Introductions and the Teaching Profession

Who am I?

My name is David V. Stewart. I am many things to many people, including writer, speaker, performer, YouTuber, husband, and professional cat masseuse. To most of you reading this, I am a teacher. I have been teaching since I was nineteen or so, starting as a private guitar instructor, and later teaching elementary school music while developing a large private studio. I taught at two colleges (Fresno State and College of the Sequoias in Visalia for those who care) for a few years after that before picking up my life and moving to Las Vegas, where I worked as a performer and private instructor again. Eventually, I returned to California and decided I’d like to teach at the secondary level.  You can find more specifics about me and my history in the “about the author” section above (or click here). You can find my main blog, The Tears of Prometheus, here (This is not a teaching blog, it is primarily fiction, and has some violent content - not a terribly large amount, but use discretion). 

Why teaching?

My reason for entering the teaching profession is probably much more Vulcan-esce than most of you. I got started teaching because it played to a skill I already had highly developed (musicianship) and had an excellent work to pay ratio at the time, and was very flexible initially, allowing me freedom to work on my passions as I saw fit. Essentially, it was a day job. In many ways, it still is a day job, as I continue to work on my creative projects (formerly music compositions, now written narrative), though I have become considerably more invested in it over the years.

I’m a bit more matter-of-fact about the teaching profession than most people with whom I share the vocation. I like my students, but I don’t become emotionally invested in them. I think teaching is an important profession, but I don’t find it more virtuous than others. I don’t think teachers are underpaid or overpaid (we do, in California at least, have a pretty powerful union). I take my job very seriously, but I don’t shed tears over it.

This attitude, which is what I consider a truly professional attitude, gives me a lot of advantages. I don’t commit to ideals, but instead judge programs by their effects. I don’t let emotional situations cloud my professional judgment. I can see the students for the human beings they are without losing sight of what is required of them to succeed. I assemble out the pillars of perspective, experience, collaboration, and research, the best practices for myself and my students, and I never short-change a student on his or her educational dollar.

I don’t set out to reinvent the wheel. I set out to make a really, really good wheel.

In black and white, ALL my hair is grey.