Directing Lesson

Theater combines many things that I love. Storytelling, costuming, make-believe and imagination, learning and teaching, and making connections with lots of people in many different ways. Even though I have directed in the past, I had to learn and relearn so many things. These are some of the lessons that I have learned.

1. Don't agree to direct until the support team is in place, or at least have an assistant director/volunteer coordinator. This can be one person who can then find volunteers and delegate, or it can be several volunteers who focus on just one part. Either way, those people (or person) should be settled before auditions take place. The areas that I can't direct and coordinate are: rehearsal snacks, rehearsal monitors, rehearsal photos, performance volunteers, posters and playbill design, advertising. A design team would also be great. I know costuming, but I'd love to share that. And I need help making the set and lighting look right. If I wait to see who auditions, then ask those parents, I don't get the time to work with the volunteers to share my vision for the show

2. Find a balance between individualized and mass communication. One of the things I've tried to do with the last three plays is make a personal connection with the parents or guardians of my cast members. This has been really helpful as we get closer to performances or need to make changes to the schedule. It is way more work to make those connections than to send a mass email, but it has been worth it every time. These families are so amazing. There dedication and sacrifice for the play inspires me to do my best. I need to continue figuring out the best way to communicate which information.

3. People love it when you are passionate about something, until it requires them to change. Then they feel like you are judging them. There were people would said, "I love hearing you talk about the play. You are so passionate!" so I thought being passionate was contagious. But my actors didn't care about my passion when they had to get on stage. In fact, my passion was intimidating and they expressed worry about not doing it right. They liked my excitement when I was telling the story, but they didn't like it when I was asking them to do it. I had to replace passion with compassion to make a human connection.

4. So much of directing is creating space to explore and giving choices, not telling actors what to do. This play I focused a lot on acting choices. Kids would ask me "What do you want me to do?" and I tried to ask them, "What seems right for your character?" If they didn't know, I'd show them a few different interpretations, then encourage them to play around and see which one fits the best. Part of that is also encouraging kids not to play stereotypes, but relatable characters. This was a new way of directing for me, and I have to continue working on balancing it with pushing kids to try a different choice. There were times when I thought that a certain action would make the scene more funny, but I didn't always challenge the actor because I wanted to respect their choices. So I don't think I have that balance quite right yet.

 As I told the actors, part of theater is sharing where we are at this point in the process. It isn't about getting the perfect performance, because we can always get better. And part of the joy of the process is being done, evaluating, and preparing for the next one.

Purpose of Education: Utility and Preference

"Why do I have to learn this?" Whether teaching Sunday School, multiplication, or Algebra, this is the most common question I have encountered as a teacher. I usually ask in response, "Do you want to know the reason, or are you just complaining? If you are complaining, stop procrastinating; you still have to do the assignment. If you want to know, do the assignment first, and then let's talk about it."

But, of course, that means I have to be ready to discuss the question. To do that, we have to take a look at what the question assumes: A subject must either be useful or enjoyable to be worth studying.

Unfortunately when education is left to Utility and Preference, pressure is placed on teachers and administrators that school, classes, and educational activities must be fun; if they aren't fun, they at least must be useful. And finding the Beauty in learning, the Wonder of relearning with depth, and the Discipline to do the mundane is never developed.

Utility Observations 

One of the most common arguments that I have had within the world of education is, "When am I going to use this?" The assumption is that if I am not going to use it, it isn't worth spending time on. Unfortunately it also assumes that we know what we are going to use or need in an unknown and unpredictable future.

However, what we do know for sure is that somewhere down the line we will need to do boring, monotonous, and unfulfilling tasks, that require mental and physical energy that we don't have or don't wish to expend. Much of "adulting" and even parenting is exactly that. How are we to judge while they are in the school-age years which of those skills our children/students will or won't be used?
The question "Will I use this?" as a argument for not studying a subject or topic, does not feed a growth mindset, nor does it instill humility necessary to learn anything. In fact, it often hinders our ability to develop the skill necessary to make the topic useful. Instead, the question de-values things, and sometimes people, that are not useful. It also subtly feeds the consumer mindset that makes the world revolve around my life.

Instead, if we have the mindset that says we will never be able to learn now all that will be useful in the future, we have to keep growing and learning. The question "Will I use this?" is better to evaluate proficiency. It is always good to keep learning, even if we don't every become proficient in a specific area. This is not an argument against proficiency in one area, but instead an argument against limiting ourselves to our areas of proficiency.

Preference Observations

It is normal for people, when encountering something, for our subconscious assesses our preference: do I like it? If we like it, we subconsciously decide that it has value. If we dislike it, we often decide the reverse, or put reservations on its value. Then, when we are asked, "Why do you like it?" we often start talking about who we are, our identity, or the reason behind who we are, our history. So when there is any push back or disagreement, we often feel personally attacked. 

The question “Do I enjoy this?” as an argument for not studying a subject or topic, limits our ability to grow no matter the situation. This makes ourselves the judge of the worth of a subject, and not even the rational self, but a very low level of instincts, which have been formed not only by natural personality but also through environment outside my control. If the individual is the grid through which the value of the world should be measured, there is no purpose for education. But there is also very little room for growth, community, or satisfaction with life.

Just like utility, preference plays an important part in education, but it cannot be the deciding factor of what to study. Preference shows us our strengths, and we should use those strengths to help us face our weaknesses. When we look for what we can enjoy in a subject, topic, or even situation, we can develop new skills and knowledge quicker than if we see our dislikes as a weakness, or devalue it as a subject.

So Why Do We Have To Learn This?

I think the best answer for “Why do I have to do this?” is the process of rediscovering Beauty, Wonder, and Self-Discipline. 

Beauty is the balance of order and chaos in a complex, nuanced world. Order is beautiful because of the chaos that makes it varied. But we cannot understand chaos without order. Complexity and nuance reminds us that there is more to the world than black and white, right and wrong. Those must exist, and we must know what they are, but to understand Beauty, we must also see everything in between. 

Wonder is the attitude that says, “The world is bigger than I have ever thought before!” We cannot have Wonder without humility. But it isn’t the humility that bows its head in shame, instead it looks up with gratitude and delight. Sometimes this comes naturally, but when we realize that it is also something that can be learned, and then take the time to develop the skill of wondering, the world becomes a rich place.

Self-Discipline recognizes that I am not in control, but responsible for my part of the world. It allows me to do what needs to be done, no matter how I feel about it. I must listen and learn to know how to best take care of the world around me. I must wrestle through the costs and benefits of inaction. I must do what is good for others, not just what I want.

However, all of these things can be twisted. When I try to become God - to take control, to determine what is most important - I will not be able to learn. So more important than any of these answers, is my position before God.

Without understanding the purpose of humanity and education, we cannot answer “Why do I have to learn this?”

Purpose of Christian Education

It is a common thing to hear that the educational system is falling apart. There are all sorts of solutions, from increased pay to teachers to four day school weeks. But all of the solutions seem to be slapping band-aids on gaping wounds and not even touching the issues. To address the problem, we have to go back to what is the purpose of education?

The word "education" means to "draw out."

I am reminded of Plato’s story of the cave. Deep in the cave, people are chained so they look at the back wall of the cave. They cannot turn around to the light, but they see the shadows of things cast onto the rough wall of the cave. They learn to recognize what the shapes they see and believe that those shadows are the real things. But what they see are shadows, and deformed shadows at that. Plato argued that it was the philosopher’s job to educate people to understand not only that they are seeing shadows, but also to help them turn around and see the thing casting the shadow, the real things.

In this story, education is drawing humans out of the darkness of misconception and misunderstanding into the light of reality. 

Christian Education adds another layer to this illustration. Again and the again, the Bible uses metaphors that illustrate we don’t see things clearly. “Now we see in part, then we shall see in full,” “What is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal,” “We see dimly as through a glass,” and so on. Clearly there is a world that is outside what we see, feel, touch, and even think about. 

So like Plato's cave, humanity is in the dark and needs to be drawn out, but unlike Plato, the condition needs more than philosophy.

The purpose of Christian education is to become more human.

This begs the question, what does it mean to be human? And how can humans become more or less human?

In Genesis, the Bible starts with describing humanity designed to live in a relationship with God. This primary relationship was supposed to shape every other relationship that a human could have--with other human beings and the world we live in. God created this, and it was good. 

But humans wanted, and we still want, to decide for ourselves what is good and evil. So we disobey God’s standards and try to set up our own. Instead of letting God be God, we try to make ourselves Mini-gods. Unfortunately, by stepping out of our place, we end up becoming less human; we are not being who we were created to be.

Jesus steps into this broken relationship. Very God, as the Nicean Creed says, becomes very man. He is the only one who can be what we have tried to become, but he does it by submitting himself to the Father. By dying in our place, our great Teacher and Savior, can draw us out of the darkness, not just of ignorance, but also sin and the desire to control our world. 

Therefore, the purpose of Christian education is to imitate Christ as we step down from the pedestal of mini-gods, and become human again: to live in the relationship with God, others, and the world as we were designed to live.

Note: This is not the end, but this is all I can write for right now.