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. For whatever reason, and I have stopped
trying to figure out how my mind works, 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”. I
don’t notice the excitement in the eyes of young teachers any more. I
certainly know I lost the excitement many years before I actually
retired. I also notice that there doesn’t seem to be many road hockey
games around. You seldom see kids playing at a baseball field unless
there are adults, umpires and fancy uniforms. It
reminded me about a story I once heard about a group called “The
Fisherman’s Fellowship”. They were surrounded by streams and lakes
full of hungry fish. 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. Well,
someone 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. As 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 went fishing. He tried a few things, got the
hang of it, and caught a nice fish. At the next meeting, he 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
we 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 feel yourself getting caught in a rut
where something you once enjoyed isn’t fun anymore, think about Jake. Have
a good week! |