When preparing to teach any age group, the instructor gathers resources, handouts, examples, and more.  She considers the challenges that may arise during the lesson and how they will be dealt with.  She plans to engage the students, inspire teh students, and encourage the students.  But one of the most overlooked preparations may be to plan to be patient. Teaching young children requires endless amounts of patience.  They are physically, emotionally, and intellectually demanding.  The best teacher in the world may have prepared the best lesson but it will be over before it starts if the teacher doesn't plan to be patient.  When teaching older children, one must be patient in different ways.  For example, it may take an eighth grader three weeks before they feel comfortable speaking in class.  The teacher must patiently gage that students' involvement without creating an environment where the student is less likely to speak.  When teaching adults, the instructor must be patient as the adult-students expound on their superior knowledge of the material.  As adults, when we enter the classroom as students we sometimes think that we are "above" it.  We proceed to demonstrate this to the professor or instructor by showing off.  Of course, typically the instructor patiently waits for the rant to come to an end before calmly demonstrating that, even though you appear to be very knowledgeable about the Scripture, they have much more specific, complex knowledge than you even knew existed. It takes patience to teach, train, or instruct on any level.