Agreed 100% that teaching is the best form of solidifying learning (that is, second to consistent application of the knowledge), but there's something that's been troubling me lately: is it the act of teaching that works, or the witnessing of the teaching being learned?
In other words, if you are a "bad" teacher -- if your students do not understand, do not care, or do not otherwise learn from what you impart -- does the mere act of trying to pass on the information work for retaining/refining the information yourself? And if so, is a blog or forum post or drunken rant at a pub any different than a lecture?
I ask because I have found myself expounding on things in informal contexts and learning more about my own ideas as I go, with the supposed intention of telling and teaching others, but my feedback at times has been "dude you suck at explaining this". I do try to adjust according to feedback, but useful feedback is rare, especially when marred by the emotional reaction of "what do you mean I suck?? you sure you ain't just stupid??" etc.
In other words, if you are a "bad" teacher -- if your students do not understand, do not care, or do not otherwise learn from what you impart -- does the mere act of trying to pass on the information work for retaining/refining the information yourself? And if so, is a blog or forum post or drunken rant at a pub any different than a lecture?
I ask because I have found myself expounding on things in informal contexts and learning more about my own ideas as I go, with the supposed intention of telling and teaching others, but my feedback at times has been "dude you suck at explaining this". I do try to adjust according to feedback, but useful feedback is rare, especially when marred by the emotional reaction of "what do you mean I suck?? you sure you ain't just stupid??" etc.