Last week, I had the occasion to remember one of my first teaching experiences.
I was either in my first year or second year of teaching high school English, and the class had an assignment that called for them to have read a story out of the English textbook.
I was leading a discussion of the elements of the story the next day in class. One of the passages of the story referred to a young man who was visiting his hometown after being away for a number of years. In the story, he remarked that the big oak tree by the river did not look as large and the river as wide as he remembered. I asked the class what he meant.
One young man, Jeff, raised his hand. I called on Jeff, and he responded that the old tree must have been cut down and this was a newer one and, perhaps, the river had dried up. I remember thinking, “This is not the answer for which I was looking.”
Somehow I indicated that this answer did not quite hit the mark. I plunged forward until I found someone who could give me the answer I wanted. You see, I needed a student in the class to give me the only right answer, the answer I had divined. The answer around which I had built my lesson plan. The answer that did not distract me from the planned goal of the lesson. The answer that was my answer.
I have now been in the education profession for 42 years. Over these years, I have had the privilege to learn from many wonderful teachers, both inside and outside the classroom. Unfortunately for Jeff and his classmates, I learned too late that my job really shouldn’t have been about me teaching my students my answers. My job should have been, and our jobs today should be, assisting students to discover their own answers that are reasonable, defendable, thoughtful, insightful, creative and, when necessary, correct.
What I was trained to do in my college and student teaching work was to teach English. Nobody told me I was supposed to teach students. I should have been teaching Jeff how to learn.
What I know now that I didn’t know then was Jeff’s answer was his, and could have meaning for him in the story. I am sure that other students may have had other approaches to the meaning of the author’s words but, at the time, I was the sole keeper of the “right” answer. How much more impact that class would have had if I had said, “Interesting take on the author’s words, Jeff. How could your explanation fulfill what you think the author is trying to do with this story?”
I am overwhelmed with humility when I observe how hard our colleagues in our schools work to teach all students. I am jealous that you have coaches who are in place to assist you to engage in reflection of your practice. I had no one those many years ago to help me think through my actions, my observations of students, my interactions with them and what I had planned. I was on my own, and so were my students…on their own.
Teachers, I hope you know that your efforts to teach all children are bright lights in this state, the beacons, the lighthouses, and you are honored around the state for your work. I hear it all the time. I wish you could too.
