I had no intention of writing today. But then something happened and I am here to tell the story. No plans. No outline. Here it is.
This is a story about living the question, and finding answers at the most unexpected times.
In December I started a walking program which has been going okay. One of the biggest issues I faced, however, was sheer boredom. When I walk at Lakes Park or Six Mile Slough or the beach, I'm occupied. But most of the time I'm just walking around my neighborhood. There is only so much to see and think about in a gated community, especially without a dog to walk with me. Somehow it was getting harder and harder to get out the door and walk. In the back of my mind was the question:
How can I make walking my neighborhood more interesting?
When having dinner a couple months ago with Rebecca Totaro, we somehow got onto this subject. I don't remember how. I just know that when I left that dinner I come to realize that listening to podcasts could be an answer. This wasn't obvious to me all this time because, well, I just thought I didn't have time to listen to podcasts.
With a new set of bluetooth earbuds, I now walk and listen, and time flies. Most days I can get a couple miles in easily. And I'm learning tons of stuff from the podcasts.
Today I was listening to an interview done by The Country Music Hall of Fame on their podcast
Voices from the Hall. The interviewee was country singer Dierks Bentley. He related a story of hearing a song by Hank William, Jr. that caused an epiphany: he realized at that moment he wanted to be a country singer. He didn't call it an epiphany, though. He said it was like he had dropped the coins into a slot machine and all the right symbols and numbers aligned.
Little did I know that a few hours later I would have my own jackpot moment.
The Question
This semester with my speech and debate class has been extremely challenging. It has caused me to think a lot about trying to find new approaches. I don't feel they got as much out of the class as I hoped, and I also feel that I need better ways to approach research and argumentation. I have searched around on the internet and couldn't find much, but I knew that one of my jobs this summer was to try to figure something out. I have the question:
How do I make the class more engaging AND teach the skills better.
Friday after school
I'm a follower of Pernille Ripp, a 7th grade reading teacher in Wisconsin who wrote
Passionate Readers and
Passionate Learners. On Friday she posted her blog about her students' favorite books from this past school year. On the list were
Ghost Boys, Dear Martin, and
The 57 Bus. I had heard of all these books, but it is the first time I read what they were about. Having just taught a unit on the Civil Rights Movement, along with the graphic novel
March, I was particularly interested in these books. I immediately ordered them from the library.
Saturday
It was about 4:40 in the afternoon and suddenly I knew I had to see if the library had any of the books ready for me. They close at 5:00. I looked and sure enough, I had an email from them that
Dear Martin was in. I hightailed it over to the library, and was checking out as they flashed the lights to signal they were closing.
I began the book immediately, and found it hard to put down. I have never read a book that delved into race matters as deeply as this one does. It's brilliant.
Sunday
After my what I now call "podcast walk," I went back to reading
Dear Martin. In the story, the main character Justyce is the top debater at his school. He and his partner go to a competition where they participate in something called "pair argumentation." I did not know this term, so I looked it up.
I couldn't find anything with that title, but what came up was something called the
"Argumentation Toolkit." It is a series of activities for science teachers to teach claim, evidence, and argumentation. It is made for middle school. It had activities I knew about and have used, but there were some new approaches to things I had never actually practiced, and I knew could work. Best of all it is very step-by-step and totally free.
I heard the coins clicking as I realized the answer to my question had finally presented itself. It was like I knew suddenly why I had to get the book at the last possible second, and why I even ordered the book to begin with. I may have eventually found the Argumentation Toolkit, but I still love the synchronicity of this -- everything lined up perfectly on a weekend where I was open to hearing the promptings that answered the question I've been carrying.
Gotta love it!
