Are You Ready to learn
Last night, I burned through the introductions of all the writing courses in Masterclass. Even with two MFAs, I’m always curious and hungry for what other writers, especially successfully successful and critically acclaimed writers, have to say. I’m following 22 courses, alternating between them in an experiment to see where they agree and connect, where they disagree, and perhaps most importantly for me, where they talk about things none of the other writers do
One of the things that resonated with me right away was something David Mamet said. He talked about the old saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear,” and then he twisted its perspective by saying something to the effect of, “When you’re ready to learn craft, you will.” I’ve never heard the learning process framed in such a way, but it makes sense.
Over the decades, I’ve been to many classes as both the teacher and student. I’ve been in even more convention panels and presentations. And all of them, I have experienced many teachers eager to impart what they know about writing. However, I’ve noticed some students don’t always show up with the agenda of learning. I was guilty of this in my undergrad creative writing program, at least to start. I was far more invested in showing off what I thought I knew about writing than I was opening myself to new concepts and exploring deeper levels of craft. Luckily, I got over most of that part way through and actually started learning stuff. By the time I got to Graduate School, I had gained an insatiable curiosity for all the things about writing I didn’t know yet.
Back when I was teaching swing dancing, I had a student who took months and months of classes with me and never managed to implement one of the basic concepts of Lindy hop. I tried so many different ways to get him to incorporate that into his dancing. He could do that just fine and lessons, but as soon as he got on the dance floor, he reverted back to the same his same old dancing. That’s when I came up with the following analogy: the relationship between a teacher and student is a lot like the relationship between a pitcher and a catcher in baseball. The pitcher sends the ball as best they can to the catcher. The teacher sent information the best they can to the student. The more the pitcher/teacher trains at sending the ball information, the better chance the catcher/student has of catching/learning. However, at some point along the way, the responsibility shifts from the pitcher/teacher to the catcher/student. If the catcher isn’t investing in catching, the ball is going in the dirt. If the student isn’t invested in learning, the information is going into the ether. The teacher can’t force anyone to learn if they aren’t engaged in absorbing and integrating the information.
I’m bringing this up in Slipstream’s first official blog post because Slipstream isn’t just about offering knowledge. Yes, Slipstream classes and workshops will help people increase their understanding of the art and craft of writing. However, more than that, Slipstream hopes to offer a paradigm shift in learning. Slipstream hopes to inspire people to take ownership of their education and open themselves up to the joy (yes JOY!) that they’re learning will only end when they stop being curious about what they don’t know yet. It can be a lifelong adventure.
So, with that being said…
Are you ready to learn?