The transition from ‘infant teacher’ to teaching young adults is quite something.

The days of 15 junior infants all clambering to get your attention, to tell you their favourite part of the story, or what their dog did yesterday become a distant memory. The days of needing a speaking object and turn-taking visuals to make sure that everybody has a chance to speak suddenly seem very far away. The days of ‘shushing’ and telling the children that only one person at a time can speak were long over.

In my classroom at third level, I was met with relative silence. There were no students vying for my attention. In fact, it appeared quite the opposite. Most students seemed to want to be invisible. To sit as far away from me as possible! I ask a question, and nobody answers. So, I try to ‘embrace’ the silence, to become comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. To reassure the class – ‘there are no wrong answers’, this is a safe space.  And sometimes, a courageous voice might break through the silence and offer up a tentative response.

Joy! So thrilled am I! So utterly relieved! The teacher in me is so happy that natural order has been restored that I respond with unbridled enthusiasm – ‘very good!’ or maybe even ‘excellent!’.

And then I hear it. Oh dear. ‘Very good’. I have undone my promise to the group with one swift response. There are no wrong answers, I said. But there are ‘right’ ones – clearly. ‘Very good’ means that I am happy with your answer. You have given the teacher what she wants. Very good. I have debilitated most of the group with my response. Consciously or subconsciously, many are now rethinking any contribution that they might have been tempted to make. ‘What if my answer is not one of the very good answers?’. ‘What if I only get a good, or even worse – an okay?’.  

This made me think of a lecturer I had the privilege of observing at work. A skilled group facilitator. Seemingly so comfortable with the silence. Happy to wait it out. And when a student would finally answer, he would say ‘thank you’, clearly and slowly and deliberately. Thank you. No more, no less.

No judgement.