What does a musical theatre legend have to do with teaching?
At drama school, we did a production Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. At first, I found it really hard to get into; but the process of understanding, rehearsing and performing the show gave me a deep life long love for Sondheim.
One of my favourite lyrics comes from a song sung by the Witch:
“Careful the things you say, children will listen. Careful the things you do children will see and learn”.
I’’ll admit it took me a bit to actually understand what this means. Surely we want kids to listen right? Why do I have to be careful, Witchy?
Listening comes responsibility.
If they are listening, then the Witch is suggesting we have to be careful what we say and do – their little hearts soak it all in.
For me this comes back to a fundamental focus I have to foster belief in those we work with and especially the young souls.
Everything we say and do has implications. We are constantly modeling behavior and beleifs to our students.
When things get difficult or don’t go to plan, kids are learning from us how we respond.
When we get tired or confused or excited- what do we do? How do we act?
The children are listening.
For me it’s not about trying to be perfect- (as the saying goes; perfection isn’t possible, so it’s the lowest standard…)
But rather considering what our actions and words tell our students about themselves and the way the world is.
We don’t want to spend all our energy getting kids to listen, only for them to hear something that disempowers them.
Children will listen- and that’s a privilege we shouldn’t take lightly.
