Authenticity

That inner voice has both gentleness and clarity. So to get to authenticity, you really keep going down to the bone, to the honesty, and the inevitability of something.
Meredith Monk


Being authentic is more than just being honest. It is about being open and honest, down to your core, being genuine and real. Oprah Winfrey calls it "a spirit-to-spirit connection." We often hear about "fake" teachers that the students can often see right through. These teachers just do not seem to care, not about their subjects or their students. This lack of authenticity has a negative effect on the students. How can they be expected to fully grasp a subject, when the teacher does not even seem to care? Sometimes teaching can be exhausting, but there should be absolutely no excuse for a lack of authenticity. This does not mean that a teacher should put on a face for his class. On the contrary, a teacher should never need a mask because no matter how difficult teaching may be, the student is the most important, and deserves genuine truth. A teacher who teaches with authenticity teaches through the genuine enthusiasm that he holds for his subject and his students-no masks, just truth.