I love conversations. I love having them around the dining table, on bicycles, in busses, at home and with friends. I also adore having conversations with learners. And this, I feel, is a good thing in subjects like Life Orientation.
The problem with class conversations, is time. As time flies when you’re having fun, it does while I’m working. I just need to be careful that time doesn’t run out mid-lesson! Now thankfully I usually finish on time, but on occasion we tend to hit gold in our class discussions, and following that vein to where it leads – hitting “flow” as a group – can steer you way off course as far as your lesson plan is concerned. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, in my humble opinion – on the contrary – but it devours time like nothing.
Today I hit such a vein in my L.O. crit class, and while I’m certain that my mentor enjoyed the class immensely, I do worry that I didn’t do enough. Part of this worry comes from the deviation from the lesson plan (that is critiqued as part of the whole) and part of it has to do with how much I want these kids to learn something about themselves. I just want to take the time to know that each of them finds joy in themselves, that they learn to accept themselves and others as the wonderful creatures they are, and that they fall back in love with the beauty of life.
Usually we can only hope that some little thing we try in class ends up helping somewhere. When you strike gold though, and you can see those souls shining, it’s a drug that fills the entire room. That is when magic happens all around you. And that is why I love what I do.
Leave a Reply