“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough”

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough” albert einstein.

This is one of my favourite quotes and it underpins the way I present information as a teacher.

As a teacher I see our job as being to help our students understand and grasp complex ideas in simple ways that make sense to them. This does not mean that we attempt to take the complexity out of the ideas but that we are to present the ideas in a way that they can get their head around to be able to explore the concept on a deeper level. I am guilty at times of trying to present ideas in a complex form to students which often leaves some a little lost and the concept can go straight over their heads with having a chance to engage with the concept or issue. 

To balance that quote out I like the following quote also. They almost contradict one another but I think it comes down to explaining things in ways that are relevant and meaningful to students so that they can comprehend them and work with them. 

Teaching is a fine art – hope I can master it someday!!