It’s been a busy, challenging week- especially when it comes to my poor old noggin! Sunday and Monday was the two-day Carthage music faculty retreat, and we worked hard as we discussed an array of important issues and challenges confronting us – including the crunch of being down two full-time faculty at a moment when we’re welcoming our largest group of freshmen music majors in our history. As problems go it’s kind of an exciting one with which to contend, and it occurred to me over and over again that I was sitting in a circle of tremendously gifted and committed musicians and teachers – and that I like them all, trust them all, and respect and admire them all. And I feel especially good about our department chair, Jim Ripley, who I knew back in the days when we were both at Luther. (He was a year ahead of me.) He is a strong yet sensitive leader and someone I would probably follow right off of a cliff if he asked me nicely. We are in good hands and I know that he will help us navigate successfully through what will surely be one of our most challenging years in recent memory.
After the retreat came three days of work in the area of Writing Instruction, something I had to do because in the spring I’ll be teaching Heritage II – a so-called Writing Intensive course for which I need to be especially certified. There were about fifty of us involved in these sessions devoted to deepening our skills at helping our students to be better writers. The group represented basically every department on campus to varying degrees – although I was the one and only person from the music department.
I must be growing as a human being and as a thinker because ten or twelve years ago this kind of event would really make me feel ill-at-ease. It is a bit intimidating to be in the midst of people with doctorates – people who are incredibly well-read – and people who express themselves so potently. At my first faculty meetings, I would sit there very quietly and feel a little bit like a junior high band director suddenly sitting in the trumpet section of the Berlin Philharmonic. “How did I get here?” I would think. “And when are they going to figure out their mistake?” But now I feel like I belong here and that I might even have something to offer Carthage beyond the comfortable confines of the voice studio.
Today, for instance, the presenter was talking about how it makes sense for a teacher- when given a poor paper riddled with problems – to resist the urge to mark it up with a plethora of editorial corrections. Instead, the teacher should leave those corrections to the student and concentrate on comments and criticisms about the actual content of the paper. I found myself with this nagging sense that this would be fine for those students who know enough about grammar and proper writing to make those corrections themselves, but what about those students who walk in the door with very limited skills? What are they supposed to do with “You need to go through this paper and correct all of the spelling and grammar errors.” Finally I couldn’t stand it any longer- raised my hand – and voiced my reservations, albeit it almost apologetically. And before I knew it, someone else- one of Carthage’s most respected heritage instructors – raised his hand to reiterate the concern which I had raised – and at the next break, a group of four or five other faculty gathered at the back of the room to essentially say that they shared the same concern – and together we brainstormed on some ideas about how to deal with those students on the low end of the skills spectrum while trying to remain true to the principles offered by the presenter. Ten years ago I don’t think I would have had the courage to raise a question like that, and it felt good to be able to ask it today – and it felt even better to know that it was a good, helpful question which I had posed.
Nevertheless, I am thunderstruck to be part of this superb faculty – and to sit in a room of such brilliant people from all kinds of different fields is incredibly stimulating. I guess it was especially nice to be in such a group not in a faculty meeting, where the proceedings can often range from boring to contentious, but rather to be with my faculty colleagues in a setting where we were for all intents and purposes the students in the room, learning together – not just from our esteemed guest instructor, but from one another. And it is positively delicious to finally feel like I am not just receiving insights from others – but also offering one or two of my own . . . once in a great while, at least.
I am also reminded of a line used by Jackie Drummer, a SUPERB public school teacher in South Milwaukee who used to be a valued soprano in my church choir. (Life has just gotten too busy for her to do that anymore.) One of her favorite lines for getting young people more excited about school and learning is “It’s Fun to be Smart!” Think about it. It means that we know more about the world and all of its complexity and intricacy. It means we are engaged in pondering mind-boggling questions and problems. It means we are figuring out puzzles and coming to appreciate all that is beautiful. It means that we are able to formulate profound thoughts and able to express them well. She’s right- It’s Fun to Be Smart. And spending the last three days in a room where I was not even close to being the smartest person in the room, I appreciate the truth of those words even more.
P.S.- My wife returned safe and sound from Branson, MO- It was a lonely five and a half days around here.