Treasure the Journey

By Cindy Reitzi,
Madison substitute teacher

September 1999

Teaching, like traveling, is full of surprises

Well,’ said Pooh, “we keep looking for Home and not finding it, so I thought that if we looked for this Pit, we’d be sure not to find it, which would be a Good Thing, because then we might find something that we weren’t looking for, which might be just what we were looking for, really.’

– Winnie the Pooh

At the beginning of this school year, teachers are turning from their summer experiences and embarking on a different journey. They’re doing their own version of searching for ‘Home’ (and avoiding the Pits) in their classrooms for the coming year. Teachers are asking questions like: What do I want to teach? How do I want to teach? What do I have to teach? What do I want for my students this year?

The seasonal cycles of teaching, more than other professions, has the opportunity for many beginnings. At least once a year, teachers get new classes. They are still different teachers every year, even if they teach the same material because they get different students from year to year. Each new class and new start is a separate moment in time.

Planning the year ahead is like mapping out a trip, your year-long journey. You have a destination, as if you want to go from Madison to Alaska. The questions are: How do you get there? What do you want to see on the way? Which route do you take? The fastest? The most scenic? How do you know you’ve arrived at the right place?

And how do you plan the trip? Some people go to AAA and get a Triptik; others join a cruise; yet others prepare to backpack into the wilderness.

Once under way, even if you have a secure plan and a good map, you will find detours. Or you may get completely sidetracked. You may find yourself sipping latte in Anchorage when you really want to wilderness camp in Denali. Part of the adventure is how you assess where you want to be. Do you explore your current surroundings or go in another direction?

Finally, how do you know you’ve reached your destination? Look for landmarks. If you don’t see skyscrapers, you’re not in New York. If you don’t see cowboy hats, you’re not in Texas.

Teaching is like traveling. Finding ‘the Pit’ is part of the journey. Reflective teachers take time to prioritize, not just at the beginning of the year, but as they navigate through the roadblocks and check their course along the way.

I’ve seen wonderful teachers get so mired in the details of teaching that they don’t see all the good they are doing or enjoy it. It’s not hard to do. Teaching is hard, frustrating, full of minutiae, interruption, disruption, and discipline issues that distract from what’s important.

Teaching is also full of contradictions that make navigation difficult. Classrooms require order for learning to happen. At the same time, creativity requires tolerance of ambiguity and uncertainty. We need both. We need structure and the free-flow of ideas in the classroom; we need critical thinking and rules that emphasize respect and civility towards others.

For my friend Bernie, a high school English teacher, grading was her Pit. Everyone knows that the sacrosanct duty of a Good English Teacher is to spend hours over stacks of student papers. This was not her priority. She wanted to teach writing and encourage a broad range of student writing. She didn’t want to spend good thinking time grading papers. Besides, the grading comments didn’t improve students’ writing.

She wondered: What’s authentic writing, not just writing for the teacher? How can my students recognize and produce good writing? How can my students enjoy writing? How do I teach more and grade less?

So one year she did an experiment. One semester she graded in a traditional manner; the next, no-grades. Her no-grades system was this: Students got points for handing in writing assignments on time and fulfilling the assignment, but she did not grade on quality. Instead, students read their writing aloud in class. Her research concluded that students essentially got the same grades under each system: ‘D’ students had ‘D’ student work habits. Her grading system didn’t change that. The chief difference was that students wrote more, felt more comfortable writing, and felt motivated to write better with a public audience of their peers, than when their teacher was the sole audience.

Bernie’s Pit helped her emphasize what was important in her teaching. Sometimes the best way to get to your destination is to get lost first. The irony is, the more you try to force a direction, the more you may get lost. The more you ‘over’ plan, the less room there is for the students.

It’s important to engage your internal compass. Maybe you don’t really get “lost.” Maybe you find something you “weren’t looking for,” which was what you “were looking for, really.”

Posted August 24, 1999