Sometimes I wonder if we spend to much time getting kids ready for the future, and never let them experience today. I feel like my focus on creating lifelong learners results in kids who might never stop to experience life, never realize that action in the moment that they are in is just as important as preparing oneself for the future.
I used to lead nature walks in which we would hug trees, find salamanders, lay down and watch the branches above sway in the breeze, and listen to the leaves crunch under our feet. Today I would feel the pull to bring our cameras into the woods and record everything, document it, blog it, research and write a wiki page, and then record a podcast. It doesn’t result in being in “the moment” because one’s thoughts are not open to absorbing and experiencing the new things, but how will they use the things they find be used at a later time and date.
When I am depressed it is because I am living in the past. When I am anxious it is because I am living in the future. ~unknownI hate that it takes a flop of a lesson in which I was looking for answers about the future, and the kids gave me answers about today, to make me realize that I have to slow done and enter their “moment” to better prepare them for our future.
Children have neither past nor future; they enjoy the present, which very few of us do. ~Jean de la Bruyere
10 responses so far ↓
Great post! So, so true…
” I have to slow done and enter their “moment” to better prepare them for our future”.
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Thank you for putting into words my very feelings. I always feel like we spend our time getting our students ready for the next test, the next grade, the next school. I find it discouraging.
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Paul,
Your post touches on so many reflections I have had over the past few months (I recently blogged on the importance of inner silence). I think, too, that we need to remember to enjoy our teaching from minute to minute, and day to day, without always thinking of the next lesson, assignment or assessment.
If we forget to appreciate the wonderful moments of actual teaching and learning, we may end up anxious and depressed.
Thanks for a thought-provoking post!
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“When I am depressed it is because I am living in the past. When I am anxious it is because I am
living in the future.
~unknown”
this is so true and the worst part about it:
our children/students feel and intuit it
we must change ourselves before we can change
how people respond to us
how can we do this?
that is the big question
cheers for putting the words out there
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I think teachers find it hard to live in the moment because we are always planning– for the next lesson, the next unit, the next test — or reflecting on the past, what went right in that lesson, what can be improved, what did that comment that student made really mean…
This post is a good reminder that being present in the moment is a powerful source of awareness and calm.
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Paul,
One of the reasons I love teaching is that children force me to live in the moment. Then there’s the whole notion of the ‘teachable moment’ which can’t be predicted and is completely in the now. I agree with your last point, listen to the kids, they’ll help us live in the moment, if we only let them…
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I have had a video camera for my entire adult life, but there are huge sections of my life that are unrecorded because I long ago learned that if I’m filming, I’m an observer, not a participant.
This is something I’ve long struggled with and I believe the key is balance. There are some things I wish I had recorded and there are times that I recorded and I wish I had been more involved in what was happening. Trouble is, you can’t really do both at the same time.
Sometimes you have to get them ready for the future and sometimes you have to live in the moment. You have to do both things. The trick is deciding when to do what.
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Ha, you caught me. I was accidentally logged in as my alter-ego Science Girl Em. Now I’m back to being myself again.
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[...] was just reading on Mr. B’s blog again and I saw this [...]
Paul,
This was a wonderful post. It is a good reminder that kids should be kids while they can. The future is built on the present. If it has a flaky foundation it will be unstable until the issues are dealt with. Technology doesn’t always have to be a part of differentiated instruction and learning. It should only be use when appropriate.
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