Witness #SOL2022 9/31

I’ll have many conversations again today with students about their past reading life, what they are reading now, what comes next, and I am working at being a witness to their experience. Reading conferences take place in the classroom, and allow me to observe the unfolding of learning and growth; this sometimes feels like a slow unfurling of contained struggle. I tell myself that I must tend to my own unfurling, too. This is not one way. I listen and speak, they listen and speak — an inhale and exhale. (with a nod to Valerie Kaur and See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love)

Inhale.

Their stories are complicated by the imbalance of power – I cannot trust that student feedback is freely unencumbered because they will tell me what they think I want to hear. Even in casual conversations, they try to “give the right answer”, or “say what I’m supposed to”. I wonder, as I inhale their words, how to breathe out fearlessness and freedom, how to unearth the knowledge contained in their experience, to be a better witness to their knowledge avoiding the pitfalls of ego.

Exhale.

I share back the ideas they are telling me, a retelling of their story, showing them my witnessing. They sometimes smile and tilt heads slightly to the side or allow bangs to fall forward shielding eyes. Brows lift, shoulders slump, and they wait for me to ask questions. We need more time. I show them my book with many marked pages, moments during silent reading when I wanted to collect all the beautiful words, all the powerful ideas about what it means to be connected and a witness to life.

I am finding my way in dark. But still breathing and doing my best to be a reliable witness.