Be Present
Last week’s expression was, “Be present”. She meant this both physically and mentally. Professor Vitali emphasized the importance of being “in the moment” so as to rid your mind of clutter that would prevent you from concentrating on the topic. Her words sounded more like a mantra from my yoga instructor than a graduate professor, “You need to see your students. I mean, really see them. Only after that can you teach them”. I never realized that something so simple as seeing a person could completely alter my perception of teaching.
At first, I didn’t know what she meant. I remember exactly what my mind was saying as she began discussing the topic, “Here she goes again on another one of her tangents trying to get us to sign up for her Zen Buddhist bull shit”. I have trouble listening to theories from people who preach about education. Mostly, I have a difficult time respecting any advice from someone who has never taught in an urban school system. So, as you could imagine, I wasn’t the most receptive audience to her message.
Yet, despite my initial resistance her words stayed with me. I knew that there was more to what she was saying. Wasn’t it painfully obvious that you needed to see people in order to teach them? Did she have a something against blind teachers? If I didn’t wear my contacts, I was as good as blind. So, the next day I went into school determined to see my students. I figured that if I practiced it, I would understand what she was trying to teach me.
On the high school level, the student teacher ratio can be one teacher to nearly thirty students. With five classes a teacher can have almost one hundred and twenty-five students each year. With so many students it’s often impossible to get to know each one on a personal level. Unlike the elementary level, students change classes throughout the day making the time with each student even less therefore not enough time to “see” the students as I might like to.
I mention these obstacles because they are real barriers to the education system. Not to make excuses, but sometimes there is not enough time in between the pressures of delivering much needed content and preparing students for standardized tests. It is easy to get overwhelmed with the demands and in the process lose sight of the person sitting in front of you. These students are not just numbers or receptacles in which to dispense knowledge, but people with stories, fears and needs. Often we as educators miss the mark by concentrating on things that are not as important as we believe them to be at the time.
That day, as I looked around my classroom I pushed all the garbage out of my mind for the moment. I dismissed the pressures of the work day to get through the curriculum. I stopped thinking about what I was going to make for dinner and the errands I had to run later. It’s like time stopped and for a brief moment I exhaled and stared into the faces of those kids who looked at me everyday. Those kids who probably noticed more about me then I did about myself because they actually had the sense to observe. I looked into their eyes and for once I saw them. And in that moment it clicked. I knew exactly what my professor was trying to teach me.
Its easy to loose sight of why you started out in this profession. Our original image of molding impressionable youth, helping them reset their paths, and saving them from self destruction can often get jaded when results aren’t regularly observed. When we work in an environment where our emotional batteries don’t get recharged on a regular basis, its easy to burn out. The high hopes we once had to save the world get squashed and with them our motivation. One can fall into a rut and resort to just going through the motions because the situation can seem so hopeless and the ability to change it out of our grasp. Any little bit of advise that can (even momentarily) recharge your battery is worth hearing & heeding. Sometimes you have to reset your goals from saving the world, to just saving a small part of it, one student at a time.
A wise man I once knew that was dying from cancer had a mantra that started: “ You have to be alive to be inconvenienced.” Likewise, you have to be invested to make a difference in your students’ lives. When you find yourself just going through the motions, you are no longer really “alive.” You need to find that one small spark in the crowd, that one glimmer of hope, and latch on to it like it was a matter of life or death… because it very well could be… for both of you! You find that student who you need just as much as he needs you, and you feed each other. You recharge each other’s batteries. You give each other hope again. And I promise.. something wonderful will come of it!
Wow, very powerful comment. I love what you have to say!
What great insight your professor was trying to reach inside and teach your class the importance how everyone person is different and try to make the time to see that in each student and what makes that student so uniquiet!
Exactly!