Axe Throwing with my PLN

We had an impromptu sleep over last night with 4 fifteen year old boys who play soccer together. As I was making coffee, I was dreading going outside to clean up the backyard after their midnight swim. When I sat at my kitchen table to enjoy my coffee and survey what had to be done in the backyard I noticed that the boys had already cleaned up the yard. I was pleased…then not pleased. I was not pleased at myself for assuming that 4 teenage boys were going to leave a mess behind them.

Assumptions are not based on fact but from personal experience from only a single viewpoint. So where did my assumption come from? As I reflected on this I recognized it was from my experiences in the classroom. After the bell signals the end of the period I usually walk around the room to see if anything needs tidying up. I often find textbooks, calculators, wrappers, and often they are where the boys were seated. Did the forgetting of textbooks and littering create my mindset that all teenage boys are forgetful and messy? Sure some are, but the word “all” is the problem. I was painting the boys in my backyard with the same brush as a few of the boys in my classroom. Do students assume things about teachers?

As a teacher, I am also aware that students sometimes forget we are regular people too. When I see them at the grocery store or the mall there is always a sense of shock to see me outside of school. There is even a greater shock when you tell them things like how you spent the weekend riding your motorcycle or going axe throwing with your friends.

Yes, axe throwing is a real thing and tonight I will be going for the second time with teachers from my Professional Learning Network (PLN). I am not sure why I find this uniquely Canadian activity so satisfying. But I do blame Jane, Herman, and Andrea for introducing me to it. It would be safe to assume that this is not a normal activity for “teachers”, but, it is a lot of fun and a fantastic team builder. Twelve members of my PLN are getting together later today to go to BATL Grounds to learn axe throwing. It is very different than how we typically spend our time talking about education and how to better prepare students. However, during this activity we get to laugh at each other, have some competition, and spend time together learning a new skill. It gives us an opportunity to see each other as regular people doing something that others might think of as silly.

I guess it is time to lose the assumption that all teenage boys are messy and that teachers only talk about teaching. There is one assumption I am keeping…teenage boys are always hungry.