3: Motorcycling, Mindfulness, and Teaching and Learning
Steve Waters: Teach Well Toolkit www.teachwelltoolkit.com
Robert Pirsig's book, 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' was published in America in 1974, four years before I bought my first motorcycle. Initially rejected by a number of publishers, it went on to sell at least 5 million copies worldwide. Pirsig's book captured the culture of the time: an interest in spirituality and a move away from consumerism; an increase in motorcyling in Europe and the UK, kick-started (pun intentional!) by the successful introduction of affordable, well-made and reliable Japanese motorcycles into Europe and the UK; and a search for meaning, reflected in a revival in the study of philosophy in Universities, especially in the States and the UK.
Pirsig's first-person narration tells the story of a fictitious motorcycle journey across America. He and his friend's reaction and response to the journey provides a framework for Pirsig's reflections on a number of philosophical issues and questions related to how we live our lives. The book is deep, sometimes complex, sometimes simple, often paradoxical, and always thought-provoking. The motorcycle itself and our relationship with it becomes an analogy or a symbol for our response to life and how we live it.
If you read my previous blog, you will know that, with the help of a different biking instructor, I overcame a negative and critical instructor to undertake a journey of 75 miles. I had not been on a bike since 2008.
I made the point that teachers take on a great responsibility when they teach children and that teachers' mental ill-health can reduce their patience and increase their frustration. Perhaps the mental health of my first instructor had affected his attitude towards me.
In this blog about teaching and learning - number 3 in a series - I reflect on how teachers can apply one of Pirsig's reflections to how they take care of their mental health and to teaching and learning.
Pirsig said this about the experience of being on a motorcycle:
“In a car, you’re always in a compartment, and because you’re used to it you don’t realise that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You’re a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame. On a cycle, the frame is gone. You’re completely in contact with it all. You’re in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.”
During my 75-mile journey, I experienced what Pirsig was describing and it reminded me why I wanted to return to biking. The 'sense of presence' was everywhere: the feel of the handlebars and brakes; the bumps in the road; the air in my face through my helmet; the sound of the rain; the changing tone of the engine as it went through the gears...
You can't afford to lose the sense of presence on a bike. You are one with your environment. You have to be. If you begin to think about the past or worry about the future, you could be off the bike or, worse, crash into another vehicle.
Let's compare this to Mindfulness. While Pirsig's book considered the Buddhist discipline of self-denial to attain a higher spiritual awareness through meditation, Mindfulness meditation can be learned quickly and practised without affiliation to a religious belief. Slowing our breathing is used to relax and enable us to live in the moment, reducing anxiety and stress.
What, then, has all this to do with teaching and learning?
When we're in the classroom, we are constantly interacting. A teacher makes an estimated 1500 decisions in a day and asks between 300-400 questions. This takes great concentration and energy. We are also constantly assessing and reviewing our students' learning to determine whether we need to change our approach. We are keeping a careful eye on signs of misbehaviour.
We need to be 'present' to manage this environment successfully. If we are worrying about what we did in the past or are anxious about the future, we will diminish our ability to be fully present and to do our job. We will also miss those moments of joy when a student 'gets' something they have been struggling with or the insight that a student gives the class with an astute, unexpected observation. We run the risk of losing control or burning out: the motorcycling equivalent of coming off the bike or crashing into another vehicle.
In my next blog, Blog 4, I consider the death of Queen Elizabeth 11 and connect it to how we make judgements about other people.
Steve Waters Teach Well Toolkit admin@teachwelltoolkit.com www.teachwelltoolkit.com