I remember from my childhood summer days of the late 1940s, when I was
learning to
fly fish in New York's Beaver Kill near Livingston Manor and Roscoe. "Ole
Tim," as
everyone called him, kept chiding me, "Do you want to be a fish catcher or a
fisherman?"
He kept telling me over and over and over again that fly fishing takes more
than rods and
flies and casting. I remember him saying something like, "Be here, in the
stream. You
can't be in a hurry. You got to pay attention to the details of nature. You
got to see
the stream and listen to it, and open your eyes and heart to it." He also told
me over
and over and over again that if I didn't have passion, practice, persistence,
patience,
and, above all, peace of mind, all the rods and flies will be useless. He was
talking
about something deeper, higher, and greater than merely holding up a fish for a
trophy
picture. I didn't understand him. I was only eight or nine. I just wanted to
catch a
fish. Now, I haven't has a casting rod in my hands for nearly sixty years.
Yet, I
remember Ole Tim's words. I don't know why, but I do. And, now, as I seek to
be an
educational fisherman, I know what he meant. I know because what he said about
fly
fishing, what I now call "my five 'Ps,'" I now see are essential for my
teaching, maybe
for everything in my life: passion, practice, persistence, patience, and,
above all,
peace of mind.
Too many of us think there is only one "P" in teaching: pedagogy.
But, now
always hearing Old Tim's rebuke in my heart and soul, saying, "Do you want to
be a fish
catcher or a fisherman," I say, "Have all the pedagogical techniques and
technologies you
want, but if you don't have those five 'Ps'--passion, practice, persistence,
patience,
peace of mind--you'll not touch the essence of teaching and learning, and make a
difference." Those "Ps," not the techniques or technologies, work on us and
are omens of
our teaching. We've got to be there, focused intently and intensely on the
"now" of each
day, in the classroom. We've got to pay attention to the details of each
student, see
each of them, listen to each of them, understand each of them, and open our
eyes and
hearts to each of them. As I just told some colleagues, if spirituality is
something that
enriches the soul, teaches someone something about themselves and how they fit
into the
world around them, as well as hopefully making them a better person, then
teaching and
learning are forms of spirituality no less than Ole Tim was saying about fly
fishing.
These "Ps" are not chameleons; they're not conditional; they don't
blow-in-the-wind or
change-with-the-weather or change their color according to their surroundings.
They
steady us in the classroom no less than they do in the stream. They make the
difference
because what we take the time to understand makes a difference, because what we
understand
makes the difference in what we feel, what we think, what we say, and what we
do. The more
we tell ourselves to exercise those five "Ps" and commit to them, the more we
move beyond
our complaints and attempts to garner sympathy from others toward our vision,
the more our
labors become less laborious, the more we will smile, the more we reach out to
embrace and
touch each student, and, then, the nobler our future is likely to be. On the
other hand,
if we don't tell ourselves "love it," "be patient," "it's worth it," "it takes
practice,"
"keep going," "cool it," "smile," we give our ideals permission to corrode and
erode into
ordeals; and, as we do, out of resignation and/or frustration--maybe even
anger--we'll
believe we need or deserve new deals. Then, we will become little more than
educational
fish catchers rather than accomplished and fulfilled fishermen.
Make it a good day.
--Louis--
Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.com
Department of History
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\
(229-333-5947) /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__/\ \/\
/ \/ \__ \/ /
\/ /\/
\ /\
/ /\/\/ /\
\__/__/_/\_\
\_/__\
/\"If you want to climb
mountains,\ /\
_ / \ don't practice on mole
hills" -
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