Teaching as an Art Form

Aside from the headache that has persisted since 1:54 this afternoon and the stomach cramps that cropped up after supper - all is wonderful, or better. I don't think I have ever come to a Friday evening and felt that I didn't need a weekend. (Don't get me wrong - I'll take a weekend - I've got plants to water, and a headache to get rid of.) Granted, there are several factors contributing to this week; one being we had a conference on Thursday and weren't at school. This was a wonderful opportunity to find out just how difficult it is to plan for a sub. It wasn't planning the day for the sub that was the issue. It was planning the week so that the class would have the information that I wanted them to have before the sub got there. There is so much flux in the classroom that it is difficult to pinpoint where the class will be the next day. This 'flux' in my interior design class is the reason that teachers teach. The class is not only well-behaved, considerate, and polite - they actively participate in the class. The 16 member, all-female, jr/sr class are a 'dream class'. They are creative and willingly to share. My challenges have been 'keeping up' with them and making sure that we will have a topic to talk about. They willingly continue conversations after lecture or activities on housing topics. They are friendly in the halls and helpful in the classroom. I have spent enough time in classrooms (observing and subbing) to know that all of teaching is not striding atop mountaintop experiences in classroom bliss, but it is nice to be exposed to it. This mountaintop week has also been the result of hours of prep time - both last week and each evening this week. Because of the amount of time that has been spent in discussion as well as the directions and emphases that are presented by and through the students, my class plans have changed daily. The basic structure of the week and the course remain the same, but the ways that I can teach this class are wide open. I honestly did not expect to be this impressed with the high school students. I had expected more attitude and adolescent/teen-age issues, but it's been limited. The behavior that is 'inappropriate' is not beyond comprehension and is within the boundaries of the childhood/early adulthood limits and expected (mis)behaviors.
My supervising professor observed class today and I didn't lose myself because she was observing me. It has helped that the cooperating teacher is always in the classroom and has never made me feel that she is there for reasons other than support and contribution where there is more information or anecdotes to fill in. The supportive environment makes it far easier to do well. This is, of course, true for all areas of life and was the topic of today's health class. My supervisory team (including the school administration) actively work to establish an environment that creates as little stress as possible. In the midst of a day that I thought could have been one of my most stressful, chocolate arrived. One of the ladies from my women's study stopped by with chocolate cupcakes covered in fudge. It was a delicious reminder of the blessing of the interconnectedness of our lives.
Being in the classroom is being part of a living art form. I don't feel that I could think myself a classroom 'artist'; there are too many unknowns and each student is herself a contributing work of art. But there is a 'thing of beauty' that is created in each class, made up of the people who are present and only possible in that day's composition. It is an honor and a privilege (while being a challenge) to be a part of these pictures.
I could not say that I would like to be a teacher because I love kids. I love people. I am a teacher and with that there is the opportunity to love people by teaching. No matter what job I ever have, it is as likely that teaching will be part of my life as are reading, writing, or creating other works of art. (Reading is as essential to the art of the written word as visual perception is to a painting.) Teaching is not just an occupation or a title, it is a gift. And it is a gift for which I am grateful.


The "Price" of a Gift
To trust, to be truly whole, is also to let go whatever we may consider our qualifications. There's a paradox here, and a trap for the lazy. I do not need to be "qualified" to play a Bach fugue on the piano (and playing a Bach fugue is for me an exercise in wholeness). But I cannot play that Bach fugue at all if I do not play the piano daily, if I do not practice my finger exercise. There are equivalents of finger exercises in the writing of books, the painting of portraits, the composing of a song. We do not need to be qualified; the gift is free; and yet we have to pay for it.
~Madeleine L'Engle, Walk on Water