Learning and understanding

In the last post I mentioned that I seem to learn things differently to most people. I found this description which seems to sum it up. I have always found it easier to get things straight in my own mind if I imagine describing them to others. It was something that I used to do mentally while out running as a teenager - a form of mediation.
One immediate consequence that occurs to me would be that this should also make one a better teacher but I am not sure this worked for me. While I have done quite of bit of teaching (tutoring/lecturing/instruction whatever you want to call it), I am not certain that I am particularly good at it. Once I understand the concept and can explain it to my own satisfaction, I have too little patience with others that have not yet caught on. I think my wife can probably vouch for this :-)
In terms of learning, I suppose I consider the approach of  'do more and more problems until you become familiar with the way of solving it' to be a bit brute force. It is hammering the information into the students minds and holding it there until it stops falling out. I prefer a little more finesse and try to work out how the technique or information fits with what I already know, perhaps adjusting mental models along the way, until there is a space to place the learnings where it will take root.
I am sure that good teachers approach things this way - although I haven't actually thought about it until recently so I haven't taken notice about how I was taught. However, it does require the teacher to understand the topic *in depth* themselves before trying to pass it on. It also requires the student to be willing and able to adjust their mental view of the world to incorporate the new knowledge.
Perhaps I can see why it is not such a common approach.