The lights dimmed, and the viewers fell silent. It was a chilly January afternoon in 2007, and I used to be sitting in a crowded auditorium in Windfall, Rhode Island, nervously interested by the week forward. In just some days, I’d journey the world over and step right into a classroom for the primary time as a scholar instructor—a dream years within the making that all of a sudden felt overwhelming.
I’d listened to the “Depraved” forged recording extra instances than I might depend, however seeing it carried out reside was one thing else fully. The musical, based mostly on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, reimagines the acquainted world of The Wizard of Oz from Elphaba’s perspective, the misunderstood and defiant Depraved Witch of the West. When Elphaba soared into the air throughout “Defying Gravity,” her voice appeared to echo my very own doubts and aspirations. She wasn’t simply rejecting the established order for the sake of insurrection, she was daring to think about a world the place she might exist on her personal phrases, regardless of being outlined by others round her. Her defiance was daring and weak, a refusal to let worry or custom dictate her path.
Sitting in that theater, I felt one thing spark inside me. I questioned if I had that form of braveness. May I step into an unfamiliar classroom on the opposite facet of the world and discover my voice as a instructor? May I problem my insecurities, the expectations of others, and the boundaries I hadn’t but questioned? Elphaba’s ascent wasn’t only a efficiency – it was a reminder that moving into the unknown could be the one technique to create one thing significant. I left the theater with my coronary heart pounding, unaware of what lay forward, however decided to rise anyway.
Instructing as Transformation
That spark carried me into scholar educating in Townsville, Queensland, Australia the place I used to be pushed to develop in methods I hadn’t anticipated. Instructing whereas nonetheless studying to handle a classroom and create cohesive, participating classes in a brand new setting was humbling and daunting. My cooperating instructor moved with ease: each lesson was a efficiency, delivered with such presence that she captivated her viewers. Watching her left me questioning if I used to be lower out for this work.
However I stored returning to Elphaba’s journey: “One thing has modified inside me; one thing shouldn’t be the identical.” Her defiance wasn’t insurrection; it was the braveness to think about one thing higher. Like her, I used to be nonetheless discovering my voice, balancing the will to push boundaries whereas staying protected.
Early in my profession, I usually performed it protected, avoiding sure matters and adjusting classes to match administrative expectations. These decisions compelled me to confront a tough query: Was I defying unjust programs, complying with them or complicit by silence? As a white, queer educator in predominantly white faculty districts, stepping again from dangers usually felt like the simpler—and safer—alternative. This privilege, nevertheless, shouldn’t be shared by many who navigate these flawed programs with far much less security. Every time I selected security, it got here at a price. I felt the strain of compromising my values, the uneasy consciousness of what I’d left unsaid or undone.
These moments taught me a vital reality: braveness isn’t at all times simple. It’s messy, uncomfortable and filled with missteps. Glinda’s complicity got here to thoughts, not by energetic hurt however quiet omissions that allowed unjust programs to persist. But, these moments additionally taught me that defiance doesn’t must be grand. Generally, small, intentional decisions open the door to transformation. Elphaba’s phrases stayed with me: “I’m by accepting limits ‘trigger somebody says they’re so.” Her mindset helped me see a method ahead, one which values boldness over compliance.
Training Then and Now
Once I secured my first full-time educating place, I nonetheless had room to discover. These early years gave me the liberty to attempt new concepts, take dangers and study from my errors. I experimented with classes that prioritized curiosity and creativity, and I noticed firsthand the influence of participating college students with studying experiences that felt related and difficult.
However as time went on, I started to really feel disoriented. Departmental and school-wide conversations weren’t about the best way to encourage college students or make studying significant, they have been about monitoring information and avoiding the label of failure. As I moved to different faculties and districts, educating started to really feel much less like a occupation constructed on relationships and creativity and extra like a enterprise for managing outcomes. The introduction of nationwide requirements and corresponding assessments tightened the main focus even additional. Expectations grew inflexible, and the artistic freedom I used to be beginning to discover—nevertheless tentative—started to vanish and was chipped away by mandates that left little room for flexibility and innovation. I bear in mind pondering, is that this what educating is meant to appear to be?
Almost 20 years later, I see how a lot, and the way little, has modified in schooling. The panorama feels extra polarized than ever. The emphasis on accountability measures persists, now compounded by rising waves of censorship. E-book challenges, restricted curricula and makes an attempt to silence essential conversations haven’t simply made the classroom really feel smaller – they’ve narrowed the chances of what educating and studying could be. As a substitute of changing into areas the place college students take dangers and discover new concepts that matter to them, too many lecture rooms have grown much less participating, extra cautious and more and more constrained.
Defying Gravity in Observe
To ‘defy gravity’ in schooling means rejecting the boundaries imposed by worry and systemic constraints. In a instructor preparation CTE pathway course I taught to highschool juniors and seniors, we grappled with these concepts collectively. Utilizing Bobbie Harro’s “The Cycle of Socialization,” we examined how worry, ignorance and insecurity form our identities and the best way we see the world. By means of visible representations of their socialization, my college students questioned: What’s holding me again? What forces have formed who I’m? Who do I wish to be as a future instructor?
These conversations led us to Harro’s “The Cycle of Liberation,” the place college students started envisioning actionable methods to form their future lecture rooms. Collectively, we explored what it means to boost consciousness, disrupt oppressive programs, reframe dominant narratives and construct genuine relationships.
One scholar, impressed by her dual-language expertise, designed actions celebrating linguistic variety to help multilingual learners. One other, affected by a Texas case the place a faculty coverage disproportionately impacted college students of shade over hairstyles, proposed revising district insurance policies to be extra inclusive.
By the tip of the course, my college students had come to grasp that educating goes past merely delivering classes or grading assignments. It’s about participating with complexity, embracing discomfort and committing to development.
A Name to Defy Gravity
When Elphaba rose into the air, I felt a flicker of chance—an exhilarating sense that the world might be greater and freer if solely I had the braveness. On the time, I didn’t absolutely perceive, however it planted a seed.
Almost 20 years later, that glint has grown stronger, guiding me by the challenges, setbacks and triumphs of educating. Transformation, I’ve realized, isn’t a single dramatic act. It’s a sequence of decisions: staying curious when issues really feel inflexible, assembly college students the place they’re or questioning the programs that restrict them. It occurs within the quiet persistence of attempting once more after failure, trusting that small shifts can create lasting change.
Like Elphaba’s ascent, transformation requires believing in one thing not but absolutely realized. Every act of threat and resilience builds towards one thing higher – for my college students and the futures they dare to think about.
