Ah, the classroom...

“It is not successes that make one a good teacher. It is

failure upon failure that burnishes the soul…”

– Anonymous

I have the fondest memories of teaching. There was nothing I enjoyed more than the satisfaction of students actually getting the material. Most of them were just looking to get through the course. But there were those who were genuinely interested. A few students like that and life was good.

Then there were those ‘teaching moments.’ People that teach recognize the magic when the stars align, and there is a live connection and convergence of the material, the teacher, and student. Those were the holy grail experiences. I was never able to create them, but when they happened, it was lightning in a bottle.

I didn't start out wanting to be a teacher. It was, in fact, the farthest thing from my mind. It took a shaky academic start, a war, a chance meeting with an old mentor, and over a decade of preparation. In the end, I found myself in the university classroom teaching exercise science and feeling I had found my calling.

As it turned out, it was not to be, and after a few years, I left teaching and found myself in a completely different field. I walked out of the classroom in the late 1980s, but over the next few decades, the embers of those years remained alive in my heart. The closest I came to that environment was traveling and speaking at scientific and specialty meetings. I viewed the presentations as extensions of storytelling – what I think academic work is all about.

Life happens…

When coming to Arizona, in 2013, I began planning for a time when things in my professional life would slow down. There were public lectures on back pain, healthy habits, and life management strategies. I joined a couple of not for profit boards and a writer’s group.

Three books emerged from these blog posts and a mystery novel, under a pen name, filled some of the time, but in the back of my mind I kept a ‘heart secret.’ I wanted to teach again.

I applied to a local junior college last fall where after vetting my transcripts and professional background, I was offered a job teaching biology. Biology? It was not my field of study, but I was over the moon. Back in the classroom, I could hardly believe it.

The thing about one’s memory, or at least my memories, is that they seem to lose their hard, detailed edges. Often remembrances are what we would like them to have been, rather than what they really were…meaning memories are selective.

When the adjunct teaching position was offered, I was thinking, “…yeah, I’m gonna teach again – hot dog…” Even though the area was in the Biology department, my topic would be physiology…yes, sir. Sure, it had been decades since I had been in the weeds of the material, but it wasn't like I didn't know the concepts ­– Right?

Reality bites…

Unfortunately, one of the critical things that slipped away from the reverie of good feelings was the mind-numbing time and energy it takes to prepare to teach.

The first reality check came with the textbooks. I got two ten-pounders in the neighborhood of eleven hundred pages each. I, of course, would only be responsible for five hundred, or so of them.

The soft-edged thoughts of "…go ye therefore and teach…" came to a screeching halt as they collided with the reality of class preparation.  Understanding the material and putting it into a digestible form for students are not the same things.

With the clarity of a cold shower, the truth set in. The shock caused memories to recalibrate, reminding me how painful and extremely time-consuming class prep is. I had NO SUMMER in the first year.  That isn’t exactly right. I had NO LIFE that summer.  Untold numbers of hours were spent on course outlines, handouts, quizzes, tests and getting the textbook material into my mind.

So, I now find myself spending hours every day preparing for the twelve to sixteen weekly lectures, most of which might well constitute more new material than I imagined – did I mention it was nearly five-hundred-pages?

As my thoughts draw to a close, let me say that teaching, in addition to being an honorable calling, is one of the most challenging things a human being can do. Teachers are often dismissed in the broader narrative of our society. Indeed, they are sometimes demonized rather than, as they should be, lionized.

We pay millions of dollars for distracting entertainment, frequently presented by petulant, self-important, and shallow human beings. Yet the very foundation of our society and democracy rests on the shoulders of those dedicated people who spend hours in the dark and show up every day to share with our future citizens the light of educated minds.

Yes sir, this fall I will stand in front of a group of young people, to present material they will need to continue their educations. None of them, not one, will know the amount of work that I, and teachers everywhere, have put into the few moments of their lives they spend with us.

Ah, the classroom! I'm going to love this, but am mindful of the old adage...

Be careful what you wish for…

ted