There are some things (and very few) that I really do dislike about teaching. Once of those things is teacher-speak. So many educational meeting, books, and journals are built on a series of words that used so often now have no meaning and more than that they simply get under my skin and irritate me. Some of those words are “rigor” “best practice” “differentiated instruction” etc. These words may have had some real meaning and purpose at one time, but now I find them to be dead words that really don’t come alive in the classroom. There is one of these “educational words” that I had long ago buried in my world and stamped dead. But that word came back to life for me today.
As I was eating my lunch privately in the back of the Blackbox, my group of twenty students in Company came in and began to prepare for the day. I was struck by the fact that in THIS classroom with THIS group of students we – not I – but we have created a place where being off-task never happens, where we are proud of our group’s identity, where we are a bit less about competition and a wee bit more about the group, where almost all moments spent outside of my gaze are actually filled with students very much on task. We have created a place where we begin the day by sharing a brief inventory of where we stand not as students, but as people. We take the time to say all of the thank-yous, pats on the back, and personal discomforts we have with each other to clear the air before we get to work. We take the time to be real and own our world and share our world BEFORE we get to work with this demanding art. At one time this took much of the class period – now it is a much more condensed experience, but we allow it to take the time it needs. We are not here for psychotherapy, but how can we expect to make art when we have yet to speak our mind for the day. There is joy in the room. I am not in charge. I am not pushing them to any specific result. For the first time in my career, I am stepping away from the figurative podium of the class and having a seat with the class. I am a learner. I feel supported.
And, by heavens, we have created a CULTURE of learning. Yes a CULTURE. We have created a CULTURE of support. We have created a CULTURE of play. CULTURE, CULTURE, CULTURE – – an educational buzzword that I know understand and appreciate.
CULTURE!