I've been asked quite often, "What's the most difficult thing about being a teacher?"
Is it the grading? The misbehavior of your students? The waking up early? I mean, we have summers off. So that's cool. But surely something must be the worst aspect of the job.
Without question, there is one challenge that provides me the most frustration. It's getting kids to be comfortable with who they already are. Just the other day, a student asked if I'd had other students like him--he didn't want to be the only "weird one"--and I explained to him that he IS one of the weird ones. That's why I'm glad to teach him. That's what makes him so spectacular. He's creative and weird and people look at him like he's odd. That's the best kind of kid.
My job is to get WSCN students to create. To have a vision, film it, edit it--then release it for others to critique and enjoy or despise. It's a big leap of faith. When you make something, and share it with everyone else, you have to let go of your fears. Not everyone is going to like what you create. In fact, most probably won't. As my song per week project in 2013 showed me, you can labor over something and kill it with love and passion, and the world takes no notice. Some of the songs were well-received. Some were not. They weren't all good. Some were only listened to seventeen times by random people, and have returned to my computer to never be heard again.
But I remember being that kid at Girard High School in the early '90s. I was in a band with my best friend, Johnny. He was one of the few people who got me. Girls were confusing as shit. I just knew that I could say and do weird shit and Johnny responded by laughing his ass off and doing weird shit back. And I'd laugh at that. My childhood friend Ric had that with me, as we grew up together and looked awkward. My younger brother Donnie is a weird guy, too. My wife is eccentric and creative and silly. I think these are the people I surround myself with because it makes life an adventure. I know, if I fell in front of a train tomorrow, I'd have nil regrets regarding the people I'm with.
I think that's what I want to do at school. I want to make these kids be unafraid. I want them to invite judgment. I want them to bask in their victories and light their failures aflame as they try again. I try to show them editing techniques, and Photoshop basics, and failed videos (I'm looking at you, Journey's "Separate Ways" and Lionel Richie's "Hello").
But what I really want them to do is to understand that they can wake up each day and throw original work out to the Earth, and let it fall where it falls. You have to be naked. Not literally. Usually. But you need to open up your everything and be prepared for the casting of stones.
The proper, the popular--they don't shape the world. They hold a lot of the riches, but they don't make the impact. It's the odd kid in the corner and the weird girl in the back who often find a voice which is seldom heard. Those are the kids I want. I want those kids in my class. I want those kids to be adults in our world. The adults we remember.
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