My classroom is a workshop in the sense that everyday is a test-site for collaboration, experimentation, and creative guesswork. Like any well-used workshop space, there are attempts at figuring out the utility of our new tools with mixed results; some of the activities are successful and some utterly flop. When I’m “back at the drawing table”- which would be my office or bedroom where I lesson plan, I am banging out little subterranean notions I get that inevitably transform once they hit the oxygen in the classroom. It’s interesting to notice how I imagine the day playing out compared to what actually transpires. It feels like a workshop in an unwieldy way; a manner of ‘rawness’ you might find in a wood shop— the edges haven’t been smoothed away yet and there’s a prickly newness to the touch. I have never taught a class like this in my life, which naturally undermines any sense of hierarchical authority that might settle on me once I gain more than a shred of confidence. I like that we are truly all learning and creating together, in real time. I think what we build, in the end, will surprise us all.

This infrastructure brought to you by Andrew Lucchesi ⓒ The curriculum provides all the structure and order to the classroom. The element of chaos is omnipresent in all spaces, all structures, at all times! But when things “go wrong” in the classroom it’s mostly because I’m so new and nervous. I don’t trust my instincts yet- thanks to the curriculum, I don’t have to yet.

My role at the moment is a welcoming, warm and helpful facilitator. I hope to become more nuanced as a teacher over time. I would like to get organized to the point that opens up space for improvisation.