There have been variations on this quote, including one from Maya Angelou. But according to The Quote Investigator, its earliest appearance was in 1971 in Richard Evans's Quote Book in which the quote was attributed to Carl W. Buehner (a muckity muck of the Latter Day Saints).
Sometimes it is used for speakers in general, but sometimes it is thrown at teachers-- and that's how I've seen it pop up in the past week. And it rubs me the wrong way.
I understand the intent, the idea of saying that teaching is more than just pouring content into young brains, that there is an emotional element to education. But I resist the notion, often attached to this quote, that trying to impart an emotional effect is a teacher's primary job, or that it is somehow separate from teaching actual content and skills. (I'm also not a fan of the idion of "making" someone feel something, but let's let that sit for today.)
One of the feelings that a teacher can give students to remember is the feeling of having mastered the content of the course. What I wanted my students to feel was that they were smart and capable of writing and reading well. In other words, most of my "feelings" teaching was conveyed directly through my content teaching. As my youngest kids work their way through school, I want them to feel good about themselves, and my expectation is that their teachers will not simply teach them to feel good about themselves, but teach them to read and write and math and other stuff so that the boys have something to feel good about.
The feelings teaching and the content teaching are inextricably linked. If you hammer a student with the message that they are stupid and incapable of learning, it will be hard to teach them. If you give them simple work that teaches nothing and expects little of them, they will understand that you have low expectations and a corresponding low opinion of their abilities, it will be hard to teach them. If you give them challenge-free puffballs in hopes of building their self-esteem, that will also fail; they are young, but they aren't stupid. They know when they've met a challenge and when they haven't.
But give them a real challenge and the support and encouragement to meet it, and they will both learn and feel like someone who is smart and tough.
It is one the challenges of teaching--maybe one of the most important ones. To hit that sweet spot between Too Easy To Keep Students Awake and Too Difficult For Students To Bear. But between boredom and frustration levels is an energizing valley from which students emerge feeling pretty damned good.
Nobody ever mistook me for a particularly warm and fuzzy teacher, but when they came out of my course, most of them had accomplished something and also (important to me) knew they had accomplished something. My job was to chart a path up the mountain, walk with them up the mountain, and offer some combination of words of encouragement and the kind of kick in the ass that says "You can do this" rather than "You suck."
Help your students feel smart and capable, and do it by helping them actually be well-educated. The best way to make a student feel like a reader is to teach them to read. I bet they'll remember that.
