Hoping school year is a walk in the 'park'
- Brett Hiner: A Work in Progress
- August 24, 2020
- 972
I wish I could recall the impetus to my thinking, but for 24 years now, I have equated the start of a school year to the film, “Jurassic Park.” As the summer days dwindle, I begin to hear the stomping of the T-Rex creeping ever closer and see the ripples in the cup of water on the car dashboard, proving my hearing is not deceiving me.
Just like the kids in the film who wear panicked expressions, knowing the appearance of the mother of all dinosaurs is all but inevitable, so too do teachers, awaiting the stomping hoard of students soon to be flooding the hallways. The rumble gets louder and louder as school day number one breaks through that electrified fence we call summer.
Filled with uncertainty and wonder, excitement and terror, the characters in Spielberg’s classic film kind of trudge their way through the park, hoping to survive on bravery and knowledge and intuition and working together. That is kind of how I have always survived the chaos and, at times, overwhelming sensory state the teaching profession requires. The bottom line is teaching is not a profession people will survive if they attempt to go it alone. (In the aforementioned scene from the movie, remember the dude who, avoiding the T-Rex, leaves the kids in the car and runs into the bathroom … alone? It did not turn out too well for him, did it?)
Gifted and giving teaching colleagues who inspire me on a daily basis; parents, families and community members who help run programs and volunteer hours of their lives, not just for their own children, but the greater school community as a whole; and students who often take massive risks, some calculated, some not, make navigating through the “park” all the more doable.
The difference this year, of course, is that the threat of the dinosaurs is no longer imaginary.
Now I am not here to argue five days “in” versus five days “out,” versus hybrid, versus home-schooling, versus science, versus conspiracies. I leave those discussions and decisions to minds much smarter than mine. But honestly, if any school community is going to succeed this school year, regardless of what option is chosen, it is going to take the investment of all of these folks and their ability to quickly improvise. Uncertainty is frustrating and draining, and if we are not patient with the chaos, we will end up with a community of “Nedrys.”
For those who may not know or recall, “Nedry” is the character in “Jurassic Park” played by Wayne Knight (“Newman” of “Seinfeld” fame), who is driven by greed and self-importance, sitting at his computer all day, making everyone else’s life miserable. While the Dilophosaurus make sure he eventually gets his due, I equate him to the social media types who think they are going to change someone’s mind by spouting opinions on Facebook when all they are really doing is placating friends, not advancing any part of the conversation toward some greater good.
School systems across the globe do not need more “Nedrys.” They need more “Dr. Grants.”
Of the many memorable and wonderful scenes in “Jurassic Park,” my favorite involves Sam Neill’s “Dr. Grant.” Early in the film, he is riding in the jeep with his colleagues, bored out of his mind because of how unfulfilling the tour of the park has been, not a dinosaur to be seen. In a moment of professional bliss, he looks to his left, rises and peels off his sunglasses and wears an expression of shock, wonder and awe. Spielberg initially holds off on showing his audience at what he is looking, letting Neill visually tell the audience it will be worth the wait.
Eventually, he exits the jeep, as John Williams’ sweeping music plays, and Spielberg pans up, showing the glory of the living/breathing Brachiosaurus.
In my mind’s eye, it is the expression I feel like I often wear every time a student gets a new concept, shares a new insight into a book I have read many times with each passing year, or, in this day and age, remembers to capitalize “I” when writing. I sometimes even hear the “Jurassic Park” music playing in my mind, listening to the students take charge of a discussion.
Talk to any teacher, and I bet they can rattle off many similar experiences (maybe minus the music). We never know when these moments are going to come along, which is what makes each day at the park all the more enjoyable.
This year we do not know how many of these moments there will be. We do not know when the threat might rear its ugly head, preventing us from achieving some of those goals. What I do know is that if we continue to work together and allow for patience and grace along the way, we are all going to make it out of the park alive and, hopefully, hear John Williams’ music playing when we do.
Brett Hiner, a teacher at Wooster High School, can be emailed at workinprogressWWN@gmail.com.