presence, instead of absence

teaching, a subset of educating

I teach, but only as a subset of what is more important,
which is to know the learner
and to find the ways to empower that learner
in what each needs to do for the learning,

every day at school I am in awe of my middle school students,
who glimpse what they can be at their best
and lurch, as best they can, toward the wholeness that pulls at them,

as I thought of one student today,
I felt the worry of the absences that might be in her skills,
and thus in her,
and, instead of absences, I felt the presence in her
of a wholeness that yearned to be true,

for me, the secret in education is not
how to best market the transmission of knowledge,
the secret is to ally with the best in a person
and be a right hand to help the child, the master,
to move forward by helping clear the way.

by Henry Walker
February 29, ’12