[bambam]

Explain to me why? Why will memorizing anything make you a better teacher to any student on any subject?

I've had teachers who knew their material so well they didn't even need a book for class and i have had others who needed the book in their hands in class during lecture. Neither imo was better than the other because one had a better memory.

For starters I did not say that a teacher with a better memory will be better than a teacher with lesser memory skills. I simply stated that working your tail off to know your material cold will make you a better teacher than you would have been otherwise.

...on to your questions...

I already made one point...

memorizing that material will do nothing but make you a better teacher, if for no other reason than you will become a better student.

Do you agree that a teacher must also be a good student? If so, do you agree that memorization is important for a student?

Here's a couple more...

In the two environments where I've taught: at the university level and in a corporate environment. Memorizing the material was a requirement, I could not have been an effective teacher if I didn't memorize a good chunk of the material before I started teaching. I'm not talking about 50 minutes of class lecture, but rather the one-on-one work with each student. Sure I could look-up every question the students had, but there's no way I would have ever established any sort of trust or semblance of competency with a single student. In the corporate environment, it's more obvious – time is money. The faster I can teach a concept or technology to a student or mentor them through a particular problem, the more money our company makes. Again, if I have to look up every question...or even worse, look up what chapter to find the reference to the answer to the person's problem...you get the idea. I'm completely comfortable saying that I could have done a better job teaching my students had I memorized even more material.