This is a response to Gatto's essay, The Green Monongahela. I'm certainly glad that our teachers are better prepared than during his time. And, we do have substitute teachers that are able to continue a teacher's plans in good fashion. However, I recalled a day when my fourth grader came home from school and related this story. His teacher was out and the substitute teacher was to give the weekly spelling test to the students. She had a thick accent...my son, Andrew, had no idea where she was from- but he was adamant in his defense that he could not understand her...and the students had a difficult time understanding the given spelling words. I'm sure, the students, with great 4th grade drama, milked the situation to the ultimate degree which led to the solution of the problem. The sub wrote the words on the board since the students could not understand her accent. Needless to say, all the students that week received perfect scores. Maybe that was John Gatto in disguise.
While reading this essay, I kept in mind the additional assignment of selecting a prop to represent the essence of the essay. "That simple sentence made me a teacher for life." (Gatto, p14) The one moment out of all the difficulties, all the errors, all the frustrations, all the angst made him a teacher for life. Have you ever hit that perfect golf shot? You know the one. There's a soft breeze and you can't see the pin but you know where you need to land your ball. You begin your swing and everything is in motion..and PING! You feel and hear that ping and you know you'll be back tomorrow because it felt just right. You know you can hit it perfectly again. That driver represents teaching. You guide the students through a lesson and simultaneously think about how to improve or augment the plans; sometimes, things go perfectly but most times, you need to adjust and tweak...just like my golf game.
When the economy was good and more people had jobs in their field, our district sometimes didn't have enough substitute teachers. Your story reminded me of a time when kids came into my class frustrated. "We just had a sub in class," they proclaimed. "And we couldn't understand anything he told us to do because he could only speak Russian." Like in your situation, he probably just had a thick accent, but both stories exemplify the importance of communication in education!
ReplyDeleteMy other thought is about your "ping." I thought of this Thursday in class, but didn't want to bring it up in our small group and be Super-Geek. In psychology classes, I learned about the Behaviorists' views of positive reinforcement. On a well-established behavior, the reinforcement that keeps us coming back for more is intermittent reinforcement: when you can't predict how long it will be or how many times you'll have to do the behavior again until the reinforcement occurs. It's the reason gambling is so addictive to some people.
Your story about continuing to golf because you want to re-experience that fulfilling "ping" sensation is a perfect example. It's so motivating that you keep coming back despite other frustrations and despite all the "non-pings." Teaching really is like that. But the question is: for students, how can we make learning as addictive as golf? ;-)
Since our epic theatrical performance last week, I have been replaying your metaphor of golf and teaching in my head often. In fact, I told my dad (a big golf buff) about it! I think it really describes the motivation and desire we as teachers feel. It is an industry that suffers tremendous scrutiny, whether deserving or not, from every angle. But describing the process of going back the next day to the PING! in golf was simply brilliant.
ReplyDelete"You guide the students through a lesson and simultaneously think about how to improve or augment the plans; sometimes, things go perfectly but most times, you need to adjust and tweak...just like my golf game." I could not have said it better!