Growing Up in Santa Cruz, February 2020, Behind the Teacher’s Desk, “Who Runs the Class? Teachers or Students,” by Lisa Catterall.
Ego is a room where you just try to get everything on your own terms. – Pema Chodron
In the days leading up to vacations, I often have students come in and immediately ask if they can please have a break rather than learning anything.
“Can we just watch a movie today instead of class?”
“Can we lie on the floor and sleep for this period instead of doing the quiz?”
“Can we go for a hike instead?” This one might be unique to holding school on 300+ forested acres, but I’m not sure.
In my perfect vision of a class period, the students walk in jumping up and down to do whatever interesting and exciting lesson I have planned that day. Nothing ever falls flat; nothing is ever met with an eye roll or a sad comment. We are all just endlessly thrilled to do chemistry, geometry and biology. Luckily, I can usually be somewhat infectious in my enthusiasm. But when my subjects are competing with the anticipation of Christmas cookies or summer camping or whatever is about to happen on vacation, it is a little bit difficult.
Sometimes, I think teachers are underappreciated in their ability to hold kids to the standards of a learning environment and keep them studying difficult concepts every day that school exists. Other times I wonder if my ego is just getting in the way; perhaps there is more learning that can happen if I take the day on the kids’ terms. When they are asking for a way out of learning, they might just mean they don’t want to look at a textbook or sit and listen in an uncomfortable chair any longer. What would a school look like if it was built on their terms? Read more
