This song came on my iPod as I was driving home from SI today and I thought that it would be a great way to frame my thinking for the entire experience. Of course I wanted to include it in my post because I love the Avett Brothers (they're local!), but I also thought that so many of the lyrics went along with what we've been talking about and with my experience in Summer Institute. I know that the song is primarily a love song, but I see a connection between love and teaching too. I have included the video with the lyrics (looks like the kinetic text we've been talking about) so that you can see what they are singing.
All it’ll take is just one moment
And you can say ‘goodbye’ to how we had it planned
Fear like a habit, run like a rabbit out and away
Th rough the screen door to the unknown
I feel like Summer Institute has been that one moment for many of us. It's the moment where you recognize that yes, you have the courage to walk into the unknown. We keep the status quo as teachers because it's easy, it's what we know, and we are scared (or limited) to make any changes. I love that idea of "fear like a habit." I had never thought of fear in this way before, but we do become used to being scared of something. I know that I can talk myself out of anything if I'm scared to do it...don't sign up for that race, you'll never have time to properly train...don't ask that guy out, it probably wouldn't work out anyway...don't look at graduate schools out of the south, you don't want to be so far from family...All of those excuses are knee-jerk reactions for me, but they are really just me being scared of something and my habit of talking myself out of it. I think that I have done the same thing with my teaching in the past...don't choose that book, the parents would be all up in arms about it...don't pose that question, you may get a controversial answer...don't try that lesson plan, the kids probably won't understand it. I have to learn to break those habits if I want to be free to new experiences because once you can reject the old habits, you gain a new freedom with an entirely new world waiting for you on the other side. Of course there will be barriers to those changes, but you can push through that door as long as you can see out to the other side.
I am totally with you about how we put limits on ourselves. Paulo Friere once told me that this is how the dominant culture keeps us "in place." We have much more room to move, to think, to grow--if we allow ourselves to do it. But we become self-regulating "subjects"--people who do what feels "safe"--but is really very much what those in power want us to do. We can do new things: go live in NY--or go to school in CA--or teach new novels. We have room to move. And my hope is that the SI will give us all a space to spread out.
ReplyDeleteLove it!! I know on the surface we've all gotten some really great ideas for lessons to try with students; but more importantly we've stretched ourselves with thinking, wobbling, creating, on and on and on. We're seeing so much of what we're capable of and what we can do. New motto... Don't fear it!
ReplyDeleteWell said, Kendra. I'm officially spreading out, and it feels good. I'm excited to try some new ideas with my students.
ReplyDeleteQue inspiring! I really loved the analogy of love to teaching. I also dig the way you are finding continuity to your life and how you approach it. Although Lyotard would take offense, I think that kind of thinking is how I find the most clarity and understanding. I think your writing is adventurous today. Emersonian even. Just don't go live in a bus in Canada somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI like your thinking. It is hard to break out of the mold, but every time I do it, it gets easier. I love how you are thinking about this.
ReplyDelete