The Theater of the Classroom

Nearly a year after the fact I found out that my inspiration retired.  He taught me English in my freshman and senior years of high school.  He profoundly shaped me in two ways: he taught me to write and he showed me the role passion can and should play in the high school classroom.  I model much of my teaching on what I saw from him, and most of what I teach my kids in efforts to elevate their writing comes from him. 

In an interview with the high school paper before he retired, he offered an interesting response to the question what do you like most about teaching.  He said: "The absolute drama and fun of the classroom.  Adults who think they know me well don't know me unless they've seen me in the classroom.  In that respect, kids probably know me better than most adults in my life.  I feel most fully myself when I'm in front of a class."

Well, it showed in his teaching.

I don't know if my answer would've been the same, though I feel similarly.  He's right in that my students see a more vibrant and passionate man than the adults outside of my family see.  I thrive on the role out in front of a young group.  I find the adrenaline rush of performing in front of more than a score of hopeful skeptics a powerful motivation still.  If anything, the theater of the entire school is what I find especially fascinating.  I guess when one gets 1,500 adolescents and 125 effervescent adults in one building at one time, it's impossible to not have some theatrics.

Had I been asked that question, I think I would have answered that it's the puzzle of a classroom that intrigues me the most about this job.  Each class is a personality, shaped by the characters in the room, the time of day, the investment in the class, and the energy of the teacher.  Each class needs to be "solved," or reached on a consistent basis.  Some classes are more puzzling than others, and therefore take longer to solve.  But there is a rush to solving a class that defies easy answers.