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The other day while I was caught in traffic, my mind began to wander like
it usually does when I am not preoccupied with one of my numerous daily
activities.
I thought back to the beginning of my career as a teacher and
recalled how excited I was to finally have an opportunity to ‘teach’
children. I then projected myself to my last couple of years before
retirement and realized that the early excitement I felt in my first few
years had disappeared.
I thought back to my days as a youngster
growing up in Lively and how my friends and I would play street hockey for
hours on end until our mothers would almost have to physically drag us
into the house for dinner. It wasn’t just hockey, however. A couple of
phone calls was all it took and we would have a baseball game, a football
game, a game of hide-and-seek, soccer, you name it. And we had fun - no
referees - no adults - just a bunch of kids playing for the “Stanley
Cup” or the “World Series”.
Sadly, I don’t notice the same level of excitement in the eyes of young teachers. I
certainly know that in my own career I started to lose the excitement many years before I actually
retired, but I think it was still there at least until after I had been in
the profession for over twenty years.
Come to think about it, I also notice that there doesn’t seem to be many road hockey games
around any more. You seldom see kids playing at a baseball field unless there are
adults, umpires and fancy uniforms.
THE
FISHERMAN'S FELLOWSHIP
It reminded me about a story I once heard about a group called “The
Fisherman’s Fellowship”.
These men were surrounded by streams and lakes
full of hungry fish, but not one of them had ever gone fishing.
They met regularly to discuss the call to fish, and
the thrill of catching fish. They really got excited about fishing!
Something like I felt about teaching
when I first started. Something like a young kid feels about playing
hockey in the beginning.
Someone in the group suggested that they needed a philosophy of fishing, so they
carefully defined and redefined fishing, and the purpose of fishing. They
developed fishing strategies and tactics. Then they realized that they had
been going about it backwards. They had approached fishing from the point
of view of the fisherman, and not from the point of view of the fish. How
do fish view the world? How does the fisherman appear to the fish? What do
fish eat, and when? These are all good things to know. So they began
research studies, and attended conferences on fishing. Some travelled to
far away places to study different kinds of fish, with different habits.
Some got PhD’s in fishology.
But no one had yet gone fishing.
So a committee was formed to send out fishermen.
Since
the prospective fishing
places outnumbered fishermen, the committee needed to determine
priorities. A priority list of fishing places was posted on bulletin
boards in all of the fellowship halls.
But still, no one was fishing. A
survey was launched, to find out why. Most did not answer the survey, but
from those that did, it was discovered that some felt called to study
fish, a few to furnish fishing equipment, and several to go around
encouraging the fisherman.
What with meetings, conferences, and seminars, they just simply didn’t
have time to fish.
One day, Jake, a newcomer to the Fisherman’s Fellowship was so moved by
a stirring meeting that he actually went fishing. He tried a few things, got the
hang of it, and caught a nice fish.
At the next meeting, Jake told his
story, and was honoured for his catch. He was then scheduled to speak at
all of the Fellowship chapters and tell how he did it. Now, because of all
the speaking invitations and his election to the Board of Directors of the
Fisherman’s Fellowship, Jake no longer had time to go fishing.
But soon, Jake began to feel restless and empty. He longed to feel the
tug on the line once again. So he cut the speaking, resigned from the
Board of Directors and said to a friend, “Let’s go fishing.” And
they did. Just the two of them, and they caught fish.
The members of the Fisherman’s Fellowship were many, the fish were
plentiful, but the fishers were few.
As I finished the story, the traffic began moving again and the message
was clear.
If we want to keep the excitement in teachers, maybe we should just let
them teach. Forget about all of the curriculum reviews, certification
courses, professional development programs, provincial testing and just
let them teach!
If children are to have fun playing hockey, baseball, soccer, football
or whatever, we must let them play. Forget about systems, rules, house
leagues, travelling teams, uniforms, training, certification and such.
Maybe what we have to do is just give a bunch of kids some
hockey sticks, a ball, a few chunks for goal posts and then leave
them alone for a few hours.
NEXT
TIME YOU NEED A BREAK - JUST TEACH
My advice to young teachers is to remember the story about Jake. I am
sure that if you are in your first few years in this profession you
already feel as if you are part of the "Fellowship of
Fishermen". You likely have asked yourself hundreds of times how you
will ever find time to teach with all of the reports, evaluations, IEP's,
IPRC's and meetings to which you are expected to attend.
My
advice to experienced teachers is also the same.
The
next time you feel yourself getting caught in a rut where something you
once enjoyed isn’t fun anymore, think about Jake and the Fisherman's
Fellowship. Put everything aside for a day and spend it with the children.
Rediscover the excitement and passion which first brought you to this
profession. Just for a change, go and teach the children with no thought
about evaluation, special needs or reports. Just go and teach.
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