[Blarg]

I agree. You need a much clearer, more fluid understanding of a subject to teach it to anywhere near the level you can do it than you do just to do it at that level yourself. I've taught a few different things and it has helped my own understanding every time.

Especially interesting is that one teaching style doesn't fit all, so if you're not just throwing yout stuff out there without caring if it's really learned or not but actually really want people to learn, you sometimes have to come up with multiple angles on material to teach the same thing in different ways, adapted to the student. And that requires a really solid command of the material and ability to actively focus and listen. The easiest assumption is that everyone is just like you, so you don't have to put much thought into communicating, as everything you say is completely obvious to anyone with half a brain. But there are different levels of teaching ability, just like there are different levels of understanding and types of student orientation, background, and ability. Sometimes everything is really straightforward, but there's a bit of an art to it, sometimes quite a bit. Being able to teach something can be surprisingly different from being able to do it and require very different skills.