...swinging.
I know that teaching requires assessments, mountains of paper, and administrative things, but that is just one aspect of it. Teaching encompasses so many things. As I was sitting here trying to think about a metaphor for it all, I decided to focus on what comes strongly to mind when I reflect on teaching.
When I was younger, I loved playing on the swings (I'm twenty-one and I still love them). You swing to simply have fun. That was the point--the aim of the whole thing: swing as high as you can, jump as far as you can off the swing, find out how many ways to make yourself dizzy. Even though a swing is really just two chains and a seat made from plastic, you swing to your hearts content to achieve that aim of fun and exhilaration. Teaching is like swinging. There is a goal that you want to achieve with your students, and you work towards it. Teachers want their students to be independent beings that understand and continue to search to understand knowledge. They want their students to enjoy learning, and have the tools to do so. Achieving this goal requires many elements, just like swinging.
When a child wants to have fun, they are very creative and imaginative. Even with a simple swing, there are many ways to play. You can twist the chains in order to spin when the tension is released. You can swing on your belly. You can swing standing up. You can swing with two people. You can sway side to side while swinging forward and backward. The list goes on. This type of creativity and imagination is also needed as a teacher. Students are all uniquely different. They learn in a variety of different ways, and have different interests. Teachers need to engage students through different means, and adapt their teaching in a variety of ways to achieve understanding. A concept is something that can be approached in diverse ways, just as a swing is something that can be entertaining in diverse ways.
A teacher needs patience and perseverance. It’s like the steady pumping of your legs to gain height. As mentioned before, every student is an individual with different thought process and learning styles. With so many differences, steady patience and perseverance is required to meet these needs. It can be difficult when students don’t understand (whether it may be how you’re teaching, or they’re having a bad day, or something completely out of a teacher’s realm of control). Sometimes it can feel like you're going nowhere, but you're really gaining ground little by little. When you swing, you move forward a little, then back, then forward--but just a little bit higher. Teachers need to persevere with scaffolding, guidance, assessing, reassessing, and all the little steps that are important to do in order for students to gain higher thinking and achievement. A great teacher will have perseverance against every roadblock, and patience with every “I can’t do it”.
The work of a teacher is difficult, requiring so much out of them (mental, emotional, and physical). However, there is a thrill when a student makes progress, or when a student’s learning needs can be fully met and adapted, or when they reach that desired level of understanding and independence. When you swing (and I mean when you really want to swing), you will put your energy and heart into having fun. You pump your legs steadily; you throw all your weight to gain more momentum just to have that elation of height or the exhilaration of jumping off as far as you can. Despite the work and energy needed to get to that place, whether it is student achievement or great heights, you will turn around for another round.
