Classes ended this afternoon, drawing to a close the
classroom instruction of another school year. But my friends, not just another school year. Today ended my 25th
year of classroom teaching! I have concluded 25 years of teaching…wow…for those
who need the reminder of my bio, that would be 3 years at Gaston Day School in
Gastonia, North Carolina, five years at Charlotte Latin School, eleven years at
Hackley, and now six years completed at KA here on the plains of Moab. (I
wanted this auspicious day to have even more drama attached, so I invoked the
biblical empire of Moab where I live in Jordan to add a little history and
color to my declaration and proclamation!)
I love it as much as I ever did…and today proved to
be one of those spectacular days in all of its ordinariness and aspirations to
extraordinariness…oh, let me talk you through my day…
I woke up early today because I had promised cookies
for my class and needed to bake a few dozen for them. I had a meeting first
period with one of our new department heads for next year. We talked about how
we may improve classroom observations and work toward a tighter and more
transparent appraisal process. Then the headmaster and I caught up and worked
on some planning for the end of the year meetings with faculty. At 9:00 I had
an invigorating meeting with Ruba, one of the most creative and energetic
educators I know. She is in charge of an animation lab here that is exciting and
we brainstormed on how to persuade faculty to take advantage of these
possibilities to enrich and deepen the students’ learning. We talked for almost
an hour about how to use these creative opportunities to solve problems and
mine new understandings of everything from biology to the humanities.
I had a student come by with a present this morning
as well! This student had taken one of my favorite paintings, Two Men Contemplating the Moon, and she appropriated
the teacher and student in that painting (giving the student long hair, since
she wanted to be the stand-in for the student of the Friedrich painting!) but
had them contemplating a sunset over our school’s campus. What a great treat to
add to my collection in my office! A
student then came by to talk about how nervous he is for his upcoming summer
trip to “Seeds of Peace” in Maine. This young man is a committed Palestinian
and while he is eager to attend the camp with many other Arabs, Israelis and
Americans, he also knows that many of the other kids come with zealous
arguments and he wanted to brainstorm how to handle this “one- upmanship” among
these new peers. This was another great opportunity to discuss how to cultivate
the right attitudes with peers with different beliefs and perhaps pave the way,
well, as the name of the camp suggests, to plant some seeds for peace.
I needed to spend some time with the accounting
office checking on the professional development budget and see if I could
squeeze out a few more dinars for conferences for people. I needed to set up an
interview for a new vacancy in computer science.
I had a few moments…whoops, someone else wanted a
chat. A young teacher came by and wanted to discuss how his course had ended
and how to plan more purposefully for the ending of a course from now on. I
love analyzing a course and thinking
about how to plan for the culminating moments of a course when students can
stand on a metaphorical mountain and see from where they have come and what
they have achieved. We tabled the discussion for lunch, but then picked up on
it afterwards.
Finally, it came to teach class. This class is the “rump”
class of the AP Art History cognoscenti of the year, a wonderful group of 15
girls. All the boys had been seniors and graduated last week. All day long I
had looked forward to this class—of course, I did everyday anyway, but this day
had a special twist to it.
The plan had been that yesterday we would finish all
the art curatorial projects for the year and then today we would watch some
clips from the outstanding Ed Harris film, Pollock.
I had promised cookies and we would conclude the year watching how Jackson
Pollock stumbled into his signature “action painting” style and then watch him
self-destruct for a while and torture his wife Lee. But after class yesterday,
Yasmeen, one of those wondrous bright lights that God let me teach, stopped me
and said wistfully, “I really wish we
could learn tomorrow, you know, instead of watching the movie. I think that’s a
better way to end the year.”
Hmmmm…guess what is more fun for me?!
Then as Yasmeen and I parted she tossed down the
gauntlet of a challenge: “You know, I
think it would be great if you taught us a really great work to finish the
course. I think it should be a work you haven’t taught before.”
Does she know I love a challenge??!!
So, let me get this straight…an adolescent who is
just about to cross the finish line of a long school year wants to learn
something new on the last day? And not watch a movie??? But the AP test was
four weeks ago! Hmmm…she wants to learn something new…
As you know, I became a vegetarian for a month
because of a dare, so obviously I would accept her challenge! I needed to go
back and discover an art work that is a perfect culmination of the year and something I haven’t ever taught
before…and of course I needed to exceed Yasmeen’s expectations a little!
So last night, I am combing through some art history
books, trolling through some websites, and I come up with five, count ‘em, five
new paintings to teach the class!! I like me a good challenge…
I had some interesting and funky choices, from a contemporary
Cuban artist to a contemporary Chinese artist. “What do you see? The 15
delightful scholars looked deeply, listened to each other, offered insights
about the titles, the natures of the narratives, the possible connections and
references…this is what school can be! It was delightful. None of the art works
or artists had I ever taught—always exciting to have new material and watch a
group of thoughtful students comment and stretch.
So it came time for the last art work of the year…would
Yasmeen be impressed??? She wanted a culminating art work…so I gave her a
culminating art work! Look above to the beginning of the blog…
They were surprised at my choice. I detected a hint of
disappointment. I mean, we had been doing art of the last generation for a bit.
On the seniors’ last day I trotted out the Rembrandt painting about The Rape of Europa. But this…what???
Some Asian screen???? Let’s look a little more deeply. Let’s give it a chance…
I confirmed that this was a Japanese ink painting on
a screen. One scholar said, “It looks
more Chinese.” Excellent! It is a 17th century Japanese attempt
at a Chinese Tang Dynasty painting because the artist noted that they of that
era admired those ancient Chinese for their love of learning.
What
do you see?
Their eyes flickered across the panoramic whole,
surrendering to the details and wondering about the narrative. I could tell
that they wanted it to be momentous. They spent about a minute in silence,
receiving the art, wondering why this would be my choice for the final, final FINAL work of the year.
Of course someone noted the opulent gold background
and another commented on the seamless atmosphere punctuated by magically
buoyant clouds. Someone remembered the name for the Japanese love of “floating
pictures,” and another asked where these people had gathered.
“What
brought these people together?” and “Who are they?” seemed to be the main
questions…and several offered suggestions like unseen forces had summoned them
or they have gathered to witness a momentous occurrence. After a moment I
revealed that these were Chinese scholars, in a remote paradise, a utopian
realm between heaven and earth. These scholars sought enlightenment, where they
came, as the artist wrote, where they came for “the cultivation of self and
spirit.” (Dramatic pause.) I noted that
these were seekers of knowledge, of immortality, who have left the everyday
world, and we see them here, now immortal, in astonishing stages of
enlightenment.
I compared this painting to our class everyday—I also
sought a realm beyond the ordinary where we might leave everything else behind
and explore the mysteries of art and history. I hoped that this course would lead
them to also cultivate “self and spirit.”
How
had we done this year? Did they feel the astonishing, immortal tingles of
enlightenment, of immortality??
Thank you Yasmeen for making this auspicious day
even more meaningful. Thus ends the year on 25 years of teaching…a profession I
love beyond measure and opportunities to touch something as powerful and
astonishing as intellectual reverie.
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