Training is afoot. The Madawaska River is 3 degrees and in flood and you wouldn’t want your kids anywhere near it. There are still a few north facing snow drifts resisting the inevitable. Black flies are waiting in the wings to devour us. 16-hour days of learning to protect, educate and inspire your kids leaves us slamming hard on our pillows each night.
This will be the 31st staff team I have had the privilege to manage. I look upon them with sweet envy; these gorgeous immortals whose bodies have yet to feel the effects of gravity. They are bright eyed optimists with pipes and endless energy. I am drawn to their charisma, for their confidence is infectious and their spirits are kind.
But facing the formidable challenges of May in the Canadian Shield is the easy part of training.
The hard part is the “un-learning” that needs to take place.
The terminology used by experiential educators can often be butt-backwards. “Hard Skills” refer to paddling, climbing and risk management. “Soft Skills” refer to teaching, connecting, leadership etc.
Really, I think they should be reversed. Technical skills can easily be learned with enough time and resources. But the people skills – not so easy. You have to hire for these, but they must also be honed through relentless practice and experience.
Often new teachers come to us with habits that don’t quite work at Boundless. They are taught in teacher’s college to be dedicated to their lesson plans. But group process means that lesson plans need to change, like, ALL THE TIME. Gifted teachers know that the capacity to read and teach a group means that they must adapt their lessons on a dime. They must be as resilient as they want their students to be. New teachers have to un-learn that lesson plans are sacrosanct.
Teachers also think they have knowledge to bestow. Call me crazy, but this is wrong too. Talented teachers understand that knowledge must be claimed by the student. The best teachers simply facilitate this. The reader may regard this as semantic. Perhaps. But it has profound implications for students.
Those teachers that pride themselves on bestowing knowledge are apt to be seen an egocentric and arrogant by their students. Many are apt to pull away from this. “I AM THE TEACHER; you are the student”. LISTEN TO ME, I have something to teach you”. This puts a barrier between student and teacher. And if you believe that “connecting” with students is an essential part of learning, this barrier must be removed. The teacher simply occupies a place in the group process. An authority figure, yes, because all classes need to be managed. But this is different from teaching.
Teachers need to connect. We prize this virtue at Boundless.
To un-learn that teachers must teach is a soft skill that is very difficult.
But with this crop of cold Madawaska-dripping immortals that I see before me – they should do well with this unlearning. Your kids are going to adore them.
Warm regards,
Steven Gottlieb [email protected]
