On The Line

As students filed out at the end of the day, I stopped a number of them to ask what has become a fairly routine question for me: "What did you learn?" Since this was one of the few days in the pas thirteen years when I had no other way of knowing besides asking, it seemed important. I had not made it past the sidewalk in front of the school all day, having walked the picket line since long before any of them had probably been awake. I saw them go in. I saw them come out. I knew that most of their teachers, including myself, were busy with their work action, and when the bell rang, I was curious.
Then a voice came to me, asking me the same question: What did I learn? The first thing that came to me was the words I read on the signs I saw at our noon-time rally at City Hall. "I'd Rather Be Teaching." The novelty of being on strike lasted only a couple of hours for me. I am far too concerned with staying busy to confine my day to carrying signs and shouting slogans. Then it occurred to me, at a deeper level, sometimes that is the work. At that same rally, we were addressed by a group of Borax miners from Boron, California. They were in the eighty-eighth day of their union's lockout, and they wanted to come up and participate in our mobilization. Solidarity. It made me think of Lech Walesa. Nobody was going to arrest me. On the contrary, the police we encountered throughout the day were universally enthusiastic and supportive of our teachers' cause.
I learned that I have never been much of a joiner. I prefer to think of myself as a lone wolf, a loner. I learned that there are times and circumstances that make that difficult, if not impossible. Sometimes you have to pick a side, and live with the consequences. Martial law was not declared, and no one was sent the gulag for going on strike today. It felt good to be part of something bigger, much bigger. And then again, it also made me wince a bit at times when the sound of the group didn't sound like me.
The kids I talked to seemed as eager as any other day to share their experience in the classroom with me. "It was alright," or "We did some math." It reminded me of something that good teachers do: Ask better questions. That's what I learned.