I love school. I always have. Yes, there were mornings in Marlene’s room when I cried with her because I missed my mom, but even then there was something that felt so right about being there. Being at school. It felt like the place I was supposed to be. It still does.
So now, twenty years after those mornings in Marlene’s room, I’m a teacher. Surprise! I bet no one saw that coming.
This post has quite a bit to do with Covid, and I apologize for that, but indeed teaching during this pandemic is the only teaching experience I have had, so I will speak on that experience.
On second thought, that’s not really true. The past two years during Covid is not the only teaching experience I’ve had. Given so many opportunities at the Open to be a teacher as well as a student, to be a leader, to be heard, to have adults and other kids trust my brain and my choices…I think I started teaching long before I ever got up in front of a room of high school students.
At the Open I got to share my love for learning with others, to watch others grow and grow alongside them. At the Open I learned how to think, how to love, how to trust my gut and believe in my brain and myself, and how to connect with and care for others.
And so when I questioned, as I and my fellow teachers often have during this pandemic, if what I was doing with and for my students was “the right thing,” I thought back on my experiences at the Open. I came to the conclusion that those above lessons are the most important ones, and if I ground my teaching in those ideas, my students will probably be okay. And for these past two years, that’s all I really want for them at the end of the day. To be okay.
When I think back to being a nine-year-old editing a student-created newspaper in Amy’s room, what I remember is an overwhelming feeling that I was being trusted to make my own choices, help others, think well, and lead. And that felt good. So now, I make choices with my students that will allow them to feel that way too.
I have now had years of formal education on how to be a teacher. Those years have been invaluable. And yet the place where I learned the most about what it means to do this job is the Open Classroom. That’s the truth.
As always, thank you to my teachers.
Marley Van Deusen