Reader Stories

I was a first-year teacher, teaching 8th grade earth science five time each day, when my purpose of teaching came into question. One would think that teaching the same lesson five times a day would be a dream job, but when organization is not one’s strongest suite, things can fall apart. Within a few weeks, ALL five classes were on a different lesson. I would start first period and that lesson seemed to work okay, but as the day progressed, I was burning through more and more content. Some content no longer seemed important, one class got me off track discussing current events, another seemed bored so I jumped ahead. The result was, well, professional chaos and a first-year teacher’s worse nightmare. I no longer was teaching one course, I was preparing and teaching FIVE different lessons every single day! What a mess. Out of frustration, I dreamed up an assignment for the classes who were light years ahead to slow them down while I got the others back up to speed. The assignment was simple, “Create a poem, story, or art piece that addresses some of the things we were discussion in our just completed Solar System Unit.” No further details. No other direction. Just be creative and tell me something about what you have learned. On Friday, Laura, a very quiet young lady who I really did not know at the time, handed me her chalk drawing and a hand written explanation. While the drawing was magnificent, the written statement left me speechless. Please take a moment to look at her picture and then take even more time to read her thoughts at the bottom of this article. Now overlay what you just read with the fact that I am a first-year middle school science teacher. A person who was teaching, not because of a love of teaching, but because of a life-long love science! Capped off by four years of college science courses, taught primarily by instructors who also LOVED their content, not their students, I was clueless about my own students. Not once had I questioned what I was teaching. Not once did I wonder what my students were thinking. Not once did I try to understand them, so together we could figure out how this course material might fit into their lives. That Friday, my professional world was shattered. Why was I teaching ANY of this stuff? Who decided that this was important? And what really is my job as a science teacher?? Until that day, I had never thought or considered what my students were thinking or how my teaching might fit into their lived lives. I was so caught up on “knowing” my subject matter and presenting the curriculum, I totally missed addressing, of even thinking about the purpose of education. The bigger picture of interactions, of listening as well as telling and most importantly, caring and growing together. Over that weekend, all I could do is stare at that drawing and dwell on her metaphor. Why didn’t someone help me realize that students are not vessel to be filled, but co-learners who need voice and need to be heard in a dynamic sitting where everyone has the opportunity to contribute. Only when we all grow, can any of us truly gain from the lessons. At that moment, nothing I was teaching seemed important enough to share for 45 minutes a day. My professional world crashed. For fifty-five years and counting, this painting and the statements she shared, have hung in every office I have had, as a constant reminder that I am not here to deliver knowledge, but to create a "Shared Journey of Meaning Making”. Only when we all contribute, do we all understand. Third Eye: Lessons I did not know I was learning This attempt to redefine and refine my teaching occurred many times over the years. As I wrote this memory, I was carried back to when I was supervising student teachers as a university professor. I remember having three classroom visitations in a row, with the last two being high school history classes. The first student teacher was teaching about the USA Civil war. For a full forty-five minutes, I listened to the monotone teacher deliver a lecture, naming every battle and every general by name. (I almost fell asleep.). With a sigh of relief, the bell finally rang. I looked at my schedule and saw that I once again would be forced to sit thought yet another Civil war boring class. (Punishment ahead.) This next class started quit differently. The teacher said “yesterday we discussed how many of the civil war battles took place in large open areas, where opposing forces literally marched toward each other, firing and being fired upon. All the while, many locals were positioned on the hilltops, with picnic baskets to watch the battle, as if they were attending a fourth of July display.” What happened next was NOT what I expected. “As we reflect on our conversation from yesterday, I imagine we all left feeling that watching a battle from the hilltop was, well barbaric.” You may recall that I asked each of you to think about that discussion and come today with any current events that might be similar in some way”. Silence. Wait time, patience. In a flash, everything in the room changed. One student opened with, “I was thinking about how gross it was to have people watching while solders were dying.” And then. Well, and then, last night our whole family was eating dinner with the TV on and the news was showing a new targeting bomb that had this camera in the front. We watched as the bomb focused in on a building and then blew up. While we did not see the bodies inside the building, we were watching people die.” The class proceeded with more modern-day comparisons and questions about the rules of war, now and then. Did I just witness Meaning Making and not just content out of context?? We each need to stop and give serious thought to not just the "how" and the "what", but focus far more attention on the "why".