Teaching and “The yes of yes”

There are a passel of songwriters I admire, and one of them, perhaps the most lyrical and dimensional of them, is Carrie Newcomer, who writes what one can say is from a spiritual place but absent of any particular cant.

One of her songs, hard to find but worth the search, is called “The yes of yes” and I hope she wouldn’t mind my repeating her lyrics here to make a point about our profession:

When the morning comes like a moment blessed,

Breathing next to you, my yes of yes,

Hold you like some promise made,

It’s a way of, way of praying.

When I hold her little tender hand

Walking side by walking side,

She asks me why, I smile and say

It’s a way of, way of praying.

Moments so fleeting that make our whole life long,

Oh, and some things come and some things go,

And some things we will never know,

Some mysteries will guide our way,

It’s a way of, way of praying.

And I raise my hands to frame the light,

Raise my voice in the middle of the night,

Close my eyes when I start to sing,

It’s a way of, way of praying.

In the silence you surround my soul,

In the laughter you can make me whole,

I hold it all like some promise made,

It’s a way of, way of praying.

Carrie Newcomer (1995)

I have said on other occasions that I find teaching to be a form of prayer. Not the kind where you hope to acquire or attain or conquer something, but more like an action that is done in benefit for another in the hope that that action can in some way resolve, explain or soothe.

Think of your better moments of teaching, when you can clearly recall an impact made. I warrant most of the time it was not with a siss-boom-bah, but more of a quieter understanding that passed between you and a student or group. It is one of the more selfless acts, teaching, though there are plenty of examples of selfishness performed in its name that you can recollect witnessing or even, as we should admit upon reflection, performed ourselves. Teaching, like prayer, is wrapped in a hope and tinged with sincerity. It is at its core a plea that combats negativity, ennui, hopelessness. Done well, our work is an I-can-see-you-and-it’s-good-you-are-here that has more impact now than ever before, in this world where everyone seems to be staring at their smartphones or I-pads or laptops, anywhere but at each other. It is as the lyric hints a “hold(ing) on like some promise made.” We hold on to the belief in those we teach, and that wrapped in the vehicle are the mechanism for making sense of the world they will interact with when our time with them concludes.

Notice not a word in this blog refers to teaching to the test or to test-performance enhancement. If you do the work well, your students can pass any test. Your work is about other “mysteries that will guide our way.” Your work is the embodiment of the belief in the brighter tomorrow for those who have trouble looking over the miasma of their today. It is devotional, this teaching, it is passionate and hopeful. “It’s a way of, way of praying.”