Lessons and Desks

Structure and content don't always match. They can send mixed messages. For example, screaming "I love you," with a gnarled face and two middle fingers waving is mixed (well, in most families and friend groups). The body is saying one thing and the words another. Another example, chow mien in a corn tortilla. The contents don't match the casing. 

As a student, I was ticked because this sort of mixed communication seemed to be built in the school system.  

On one side the teacher says, "We want you to lead, and learn, and be creative, and get As." But the form of the classroom would be, "Sit at your desk. Be quiet. Don't talk. Learn what I'm telling you. Do what you're told. Learn at my pace. Do all your work. More work. Stress. Stress. Control. Stress." As a student it's hard to hear the content over the structure; the lessons get lost in the desks. 

As a teacher, it's challenging to make structure and content team up. It's hard to make the information I'm teaching, and the way I'm teaching it, dance without stepping on each other's toes. I wonder how much of my lectures get lost in my students desks. I'm tripping over the same stuff as a teacher that I was as a student, except I'm the bad guy now.  

Last week we had outdoor school. Two of the days we were led by a professional outdoor education program nearby. I was talking with the operations manager, Rob. He has served as a dean of students, a school counselor, a social worker, an expedition leader with several different outdoor education programs in places such as the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, the PNW, and now Hong Kong. He has some experience I guess. 

He had some great things to say about teaching and learning, but he wasn't very fond of the traditional school system. He said school is a lot about fear and control, not so much about teaching students as it is about separating the weak from the strong using stress. I've had similar conversations about education with friends in college, but this time it was different. Now I'm an employee of the system, not a victim of it. 

Rob, in a very kind and gentle way, was calling me as a teacher, 'the man;' which puts me in queue with the likes of (insert least favorite disciplinarian #1 here) (insert # 2 here) (insert corrupt politician here) (insert government philosophy you don't like here) (insert Stalin here, and CaPD here). 

But I'm staying positive on this one. I imagine myself more like 'the bullet' than 'the man' on this one,
more like 'the bull' than 'the rider' on this one. And it may take me more than eight seconds on this one,
but I'm gonna buck these mixed-messaged desks and lectures if its the last thing I do.