Preparation Metaphors

Preparing for a new year of teaching reminds me of painting.  There is a ton of prep work before you get to dip your roller into the paint and smooth it onto the wall, watching the character of the place change, knowing that this is something you will make your own.  Teaching and painting can be divided into three parts:  pre-preparation, which is all about the gathering of resources and wits; preparation, which involves concrete moves to get ready, and then the act itself: when everything comes together.  Or not.

Pre-preparation for teaching

-In the spring, I observe student teachers’ strengths, weaknesses, and levels of preparation, and take mental notes about what needs to be added to practicum.  It all seems so obvious with the clarity of hindsight.

-I submit a list of teachers to the OPP for practicum.  I email the department heads, they talk to their faculty, and then I submit a list of high school and middle school teachers, knowing that this will change in the fall.   

-I start to keep notes about what books I want to keep or discard, read other possible articles to include, attempt to learn new technologies (this year I have been exposed to Prezi, TRWorkbench, Capzles, and wikibooks, to name a few), and add ideas based on conversations with colleagues, teachers, and students as well as from attending conferences and visiting professional websites.  I order books and cringe at how much I’m asking my candidates to spend.

Pre-preparation for painting

-First I talk to anybody who will listen (friends, neighbors, the mailman) about how much I hate the existing color in the master bedroom (lavender paint with flowered wallpaper, if you must ask).  I obsess about color, considering the light (not much), the bathroom color (apple-green), and the shape of the room (slanted ceiling on one side).  I buy a comforter and decided to match the color to that, but the comforter is mainly green and I’m pretty sure it violates all kinds of laws to have a green bathroom and a green bedroom in close proximity. 

-I finally decide on colors (dark yellow and lighter yellow with white trim for the chair rail) and then choose carpet to match.  I thought it would be simple.  Give me a Berber whose color will conceal cat hairball stains.  However, it is far more complicated. There are many colors and qualities to Berber, and then I found out it’s the pad that matters, not the carpet.  So I went with a brownish shag in honor of my 70’s childhood.   

Preparation for Teaching

-I write the syllabus and make agonizing decisions about what to keep and what to cut.  I move the fieldwork schedule around testing.  Then I realize I don’t have a classroom.  So I exchange emails with Dennis McGovern, who is none too happy about this. 

-I create a survey in Survey Monkey (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/D8QCMYB) and also provide an optional personality test (http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp).  This will help me make suitable placements, not turn into Godzilla when someone is absent (perhaps she has a health or family issue), and maybe, just maybe, someone will take the personality test and realize they are not cut out for teaching English before April (this happened last year. Not kidding). 

-Then Irene visits.  Not only do I lose two days of teaching, I also realize, after I sent the syllabus to my candidates, that I had us going to school on Labor Day.  I condense three days of teaching into two.

Preparation for Painting

-In my house, I am the Wallpaper Remover.  I attempt to take down the wallpaper by rubbing some fabric softener on it and scraping away.  However, someone must have used Gorilla Glue to apply this paper, and thus I make little headway.  Luckily, I am able to borrow a wallpaper steamer, which makes the work slightly faster, but also very sweaty.  I track wallpaper strips all over the house.  I do love the satisfying feeling of big sheets of paper coming off, kind of like peeling your own sunburned skin. 

-And then it becomes clear why people put up wallpaper in the first place.  There are holes, nicks, and bumps in the walls.  At least the walls were finished, which was not the case with the bathrooms.  And that is why there is still one bathroom with wallpaper in this house.  I have yet to summon the courage to take down wallpaper again.

Teaching

-Once class begins, I relax.  I realize the students are just as anxious as I am, and on the first day we enjoy muffins from LaSalle Bakery (something I do every year to lull them into thinking that maybe this year won’t be so hard after all—insert evil laugh here).  We start building our community, and I realize that oh yeah, I really do know and like my job. 

Painting

-I watch the large swoops of the roller, as well as the painstaking edging process along corners, chair rails, and doors.  Just like in teaching, there are places of expansion and sloppy joy, and also places of precision and detail.  And then, after awhile, I grow comfortable in this new place, just like I grow comfortable with my new students.  The choices have been made.  There is no going back.  This is where we are.