Go Where The Fish Are

 

I am by no means an avid fisherman. As a kid, I grew up in a large metropolitan area, so my closest exposure to fish was the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, which if you haven't been to is one of the world's best zoos and I would highly encourage you to visit if you get a chance. It wasn't until I met my future bride and her dad that I truly experienced fishing and all it entails. At first, I thought I would just get a rod and reel, sit on a boat, and let the fish come to me. I quickly realized, however, that there is an art and science to fishing and through close observation of my father-in-law, I began to understand and make connections to fishing and my professional field of education.

My father-in-law has his usual spots that he goes to on a regular basis and he knows where the fish are in the lake so he can maximize his time. He has spent a considerable amount of time navigating the waters and knows where fish will be at different points in the day. When he goes to fish at places he is unfamiliar with, he scouts the body of water based on feedback from other fishermen and he spends time researching different lures that are going to give him the optimal chance of catching the fish he is looking for. He brings along his depth finder so he can "see" what's going on under the surface of the water and it helps him decide if he needs to move to a different place in order to catch fish. The ultimate goal for him is to catch as many fish as he can with the time that he has available, so he goes to where the fish are.

Education, if you really think about it, is a lot like fishing. The obvious difference is that you are fishing for people. As a teacher, you are equipped with the theory of education through your undergraduate experience and it helps you get started early in your career. As you gain experience, you research and attend professional development conferences that help you fine tune your craft so you can reach more students. The problem, however, is that with all of the tools and experience that are at our disposal, we sometimes fall short of catching our maximum. Why is this the case? What are we missing?

Each of our students is their own individual self and the bait they require is different for each of them. As educators, we don't have the luxury of sticking with one bait because if we do, we may miss opportunities with students who need us the most. If we know, understand, and believe this, we must ask ourselves a very difficult question that may make us uncomfortable and question what we have been doing as teachers throughout our careers. Why do we teach as if we are trying to catch one kind of student and why do we wait for them to come to us rather than go to where they are? On the surface, we can rationalize to ourselves that we have too many students assigned to us and there is no way we can differentiate our approach to catch all of our students. We can also rationalize to ourselves that we teach our content and if a student doesn't get it, that is their issue because we have spent countless hours helping them and assisting them, but they aren't making an effort to demonstrate their understanding. While this rationalizing may make us feel better about ourselves, it really is just a mechanism that we employ to avoid leaning into the real issue of why we aren't reaching some of our kids. The challenge is real and it is this. Do we want to do the heavy lifting and commit to the work that is required to meet the needs of all students or do we want to just pay lip service to it? 

Are we getting in our boats (school), going out into the middle of the lake (classroom), casting our lines (teaching), waiting for the fish (students) to come to us, then going to the dock at the end of the day and counting our haul (grading)? If this is the approach we are taking in education, we are missing a HUGE opportunity. This model is suited for students who are hungry for the content that we are providing and feeding them while every other student is left to their own devices. A much better albeit more difficult approach would be to get in our boats, go to one part of the lake, fish for a little, go to a different part of the lake and fish some more, travel to yet another part of the lake and fish even further, and continue the process until the day is done. It's exhausting to think about doing this day in and day out, but if you go where the fish are, your haul will be a lot more at the end of the day than it would if you waited for the fish to come to you.

You might be thinking that this is great in theory, but in reality, there isn't enough time in a day or a year to do this for all students because you have curriculum and pacing guides that you need to follow and you have to get your students to a certain point so they can be successful next year. To this, I would respectfully ask you if you are aiming for the right target. Your target should not be covering a specific amount of content, but rather, catch as many kids as you can by any means possible. Let's be brutally honest. Those kids that are hungry and are going to take any bait you throw out there are going to learn with or without you as a teacher and will go anywhere the bait is no matter what. The kids that we need to be fishing for are not coming up for any bait currently and are falling further and further behind because catching them is really difficult and we would rather spend our time fishing for the kids that are biting. One thing that COVID has magnified in our schools, however, is that many of our students aren't taking the bait and we are receiving fewer and fewer bites, even from the ones that are normally very hungry. Now is the perfect time to reevaluate our existing practices, do a deep reflection on our personal teaching philosophies, and make a choice to go where the fish are.

#OwnYourEpic #Forge