Photo by Eugene Lim on Unsplash
Recently, I was reminded of failures' benefits while re-watching Star Wars Episode VIII The Last Jedi.
Yoda says to Luke: Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery. But weakness, folly, failure also. Yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is.
Having just marked all my seniors' work, I'll have to pass on that message to a few of my students next week.
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| Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash |
"I slept, and dreamed that life was joy;
I woke, and found that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy."
It's our term 2 study-break/holiday.
Marking and holidays are a dodgy combo for teachers. While others prefer to delay their marking, my general time management philosophy centres on the touch-it-once idea.
Which means I can only start feeling like I'm on holiday when the marking is done. Given I had marking for all five-year levels/classes, that meant the first few days were devoted to clearing the decks.
Luckily Jacky had work in the midst of this, so I had a day to mark my Year 13 writing folios.
All the marking is now done - so I can enjoy the break with just prep for the start of the term to come.
Having re-read all that - it sounds more pompous and sanctimonious than I wanted it to. Yay for me!
I do stand by that touch-it-only-once idea though, so let's cling to that shall we.
Abigail Adams (although tight lipped above) contends that 'Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence'.
That contention is set up as an absolute - the 'not' and the 'must' indicate the polarities. But I don't think it's that easy.
I get what her intention is - students need some passion and application to learn something, but I can learn stuff without having that initial deliberateness she suggests.
For instance, I learn plenty of things by chance in my everyday interactions with students and staff at Hastings Boys' High School. All you have to be is awake to the possibilities and receptive to them when they come.
My initial reaction was to laugh when a Year 11 student said to me this week, "Sir, you're like the father I didn't know I needed".
But then I thought about it a few days later when I was reading a chapter from Star Wars and Philosophy Strikes Back. The essay was about filial piety and Anakin's fictional father/son relationship with Luke.
The authors on this filial piety: Parental figures typically serve as 'ready-made' exemplars since children typically admire their parents - if their parents exhibit noble and loving characteristics.
So, I guess for some students, teachers may be considered parental surrogates.
We often point to good role models amongst the student population, but maybe we seldon reflect on the role modelling that we present to our students.
While a student myself I had a full range of male role models. There were the sarcastic teachers I didn't like, the ones I was never sure about where I stood, the kindly uncle types (i.e. they were only a few years older than me), and the older gentlemen - many of whom seemed quite aloof.
Father figures though? Not that I can recall.
Hence being taken aback somewhat when the student made that comment. Because of my references to the Pirate Code, I can kind of see where that feeling might come from.
It provides a structure, a moral code and a clear set of consequences that is noble in intent, and I care enough to enforce it. Maybe that's missing from the lives of some students.
Students often ask me, "Who's your favourite student, sir?" and I truthfully answer, "That's like asking who's my favourite child?"
I don't have favourites - a student preferred to all other students, or a favourite child.
Of course, I do have students I like more than others. Those tend to be the ones who do their best to get better in class and outside of class; the ones who listen and act on advice; the ones who learn from the Pirate Code.
Of course, the corollary to this is that there are students I like less than others. Only natural. Those tend to be the ones who have to learn the hard way, who are really immature, who compromise the learner of others, and who don't learn from the Pirate Code.
That's different to having someone I favour above all others. Having a favourite implies favouritism - giving unfair preferential treatment to one person or group at the expense of another.
That would be troubling, and against my own Pirate Code. I aim to do the right thing, now, and teach all students to the best of my ability. Every day.
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| Photo by Anastasia Petrova on Unsplash |
Much as Marcus Aurelius does in Meditations, I think Colin Powell is talking to himself here.
So - I take it that he is telling himself to have a vision and to be demanding. Demanding of himself.
Teachers get this. We have a vision. We demand a lot of ourselves. Every day.
That's partly why it's such a rewarding/ exhausting job.
