This Friday I head out into the woods. One of the advantages of teaching where I do is that we send the entire 9th grade on a 5-day backpacking experience on the Appalachian Trail with Outward Bound, and they need teachers to go on the trip. As somebody who enjoys hiking and camping already, this is pretty much a week of paid vacation for me, but at the same time, it is so much more.
My school has a somewhat bi-modal population, although we are working to remedy that. With a tuition within sniffing range of $50,000 a year, we have a large number of students who come from wealth and privilege, but with a sizable financial aid program, we also have a good number of students from the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum, many of whom have been part of academic programs designed to identify promising students in urban areas and prepare them for boarding school. Neither group of students tends to have a huge amount of experience in the wilderness.
On this backpacking trip, I have the opportunity to watch kids face life outside of their comfort zones. Some adjust immediately and thrive, but the more interesting ones are those who really have to work to find something positive. At some point along the trip, the Outward Bound instructors (who are awesome people!) give a lesson about the different zones - Comfort Zone, Challenge Zone, and Panic Zone. (Some instructors have had different names for them, but those are my favorite.) We tend to gravitate to our Comfort Zones, where we know what to expect at all times and can handle any situation easily but the Comfort Zone is also pretty stagnant. There is no growth there at all. The Panic Zone is where we feel so out of control or so out of our element, that we just cannot adapt to the situation. There is really no growth or learning in the Panic Zone either, because we are just relying on basic instinct to get by. The Challenge Zone is where the magic happens. We are definitely not in that Comfort Zone where everything is easy, but we have the confidence that, if we focus and work hard, we will succeed. The entire Outward Bound experience is designed to force kids out of the Comfort Zone and into the Challenge Zone while providing enough support and flexibility to avoid the Panic Zone.
Before I get to the moral of the story (I think I've figured out what I'm writing about now), let's look at my previous experiences on this trip. I have been blessed with some really good groups through the years, but I think that's mainly a result of the fact that our Admissions Office has blessed us with some truly amazing kids. My first year on this trip, our group sang for the entire 5 days. It's hard to have a bad day when you are being serenaded by 12 teenagers every step of the way! We had one girl who was so eager to try new things that the instructors had to give her a day when she wasn't allowed to volunteer for anything. That year, we also ended up hiking an extra 10 miles one day because the kids did not take responsibility for their group gear and left the critter line at our campsite. I wouldn't have minded too much if I hadn't sprained my ankle the day before! We also had a medical evacuation for a boy who discovered the hard way that he was allergic to bee stings. This group was truly resilient! The kids are encouraged to pick up trash along the trail and carry it out with us, and one boy that year picked up a full size propane tank for a large gas grill about 15 minutes into the first day and carried it the entire way! There are highs and there are lows, but the high wouldn't seem quite as high without the lows mixed in.
Another year, I had what I call my worst group ever. This group had a really tough mix of boys. One was very sensitive, but also very proud, which is a dangerous combination. Two others were very smart, but also immaturely cruel. (Both have matured a lot over the last few years and are turning into terrific young men who will one day be very embarrassed by their behavior on this trip.) The latter two teamed up in an attempt to pick at every little insecurity the other boy had. It was truly disgusting. That year we also had lots of rain, which immediately pushes everybody out of the Comfort Zone. Unfortunately we had a lot of Panic Zone time that year. The group also included some tremendous young women who weren't sure what to make of the testosteroney posturing of the boys. After several days, one of them stood up during evening meeting and declared that what was going on was completely unacceptable and needed to stop immediately. I'd wanted to say that for 3 days, but the point of the trip is for the kids to work things out for themselves. That girl still has my respect and gratitude to this day.
Last year was probably my favorite year on this backpacking trip. We had a diverse group of kids from very different social "cliques" who melded really well on the trail. It was definitely the most Breakfast Clubby group I've hiked with. On the last night of the trip, we "shipwrecked" the kids. The premise was that they had been on a ship that overturned in the ocean and they could only grab a few supplies before swimming to shore on a small island. They were not able to get the tarps they used for shelter, but, since it was cold that night, they were able to get all of their sleeping bags. The adults cooked them food that night, but they had to gather wood and keep a fire burning all night for warmth. With everybody huddled around the campfire on an unseasonably cold night, that night was my favorite night so far on this trip through the years. We all spoke in British accents and chose one of the students in our midst to be Queen. We laughed so hard that one of the Outward Bound instructors peed her pants multiple times. It was one of those nights where everything is perfect, but you know that, as soon as you arrive back on campus, everyone will splinter back into their own social groups. Why do we do that? Under pressure, when we most need to rely on each other, we are able to form these incredible bonds, but when we no longer have that pressure, we seem to have a need to create strife.I wish I could say that is unique to teenagers, but have you followed politics in the last 15 years?
OKAY, now back to the moral of the story. Think back several paragraphs ago to the Comfort Zone - Challenge Zone - Panic Zone lesson. We all tend to live our lives in the Comfort Zone and work hard to protect that, but wouldn't we be better off if we deliberately stepped into that Challenge Zone more often? What have you done lately to force yourself into that Challenge Zone, where you are uncomfortable and have room for real growth, but not panicked? One of the reasons I am particularly excited about this backpacking trip this year is that I really don't know any of the ninth graders right now. In the past, I could be confident that I would already know at least half of the kids in my group pretty well, but this year, because of the classes I am teaching and my other responsibilities at school, I know very few ninth graders. Heading out for 5 days with a group of strangers definitely puts me into my Challenge Zone, but since I am an adult in a group of 14 and 15 year-olds, there is still a clear level of safety for me there. It is far more challenging for one of the kids who gets put into a group where he or she doesn't know anybody.
How else am I stepping into the Challenge Zone this year? There are two places where I have made a conscious effort to do so. The first is in my job at school. I am beginning to work with the school newspaper this year with the goal of taking over as Faculty Advisor next year. That is a huge Challenge Zone experience for me. I am confident that, if I put my mind and energy to it, I can succeed, but at the same time, it is terrifying to take on something so public and requiring so much coordination. That is what the Challenge Zone is all about. The second is in my personal life. My wife and I competed as two legs of a relay team in a triathlon this year and have both been bitten by the triathlon bug. Next year we want to compete as individuals. We have picked out a particular small sprint triathlon as a starter, and it is terrifying for me in two ways. The first is that I am not a good swimmer. I finally learned to swim with a definable stroke just before I turned 40, and I can only maintain a true crawl for about 50 meters before I have to switch to breast stroke. The second scary part of it is that there will be one individual volunteer counting my laps as I do the dreaded swim in a pool. That loss of anonymity casts me to the far edge of the Challenge Zone, peeking over the precipice into the Panic Zone. If I want to continue to grow, though, I need those challenging experiences where I confront my demons in a situation where I am confident that I can overcome them.
FINALLY, the true moral of the story! As a teacher, how can I set up these kind of situations for my students in the classroom. Studies have shown that the vast majority of high school students are already firmly biased one way or the other about math. It is either a Comfort Zone activity or a Panic Zone activity for them with few in between. As a high school math teacher, I have to find ways for my students to meet in the middle. It's like a favorite quote of mine from a former teacher at my school. Patrick Henry Calloway described the school chapel as a place that should "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." That's exactly what my classroom should do! Achieving both of those goals at the same time is the magic that only a truly gifted teacher can achieve. I am at the point in my career where becoming that truly gifted teacher is in my Challenge Zone. I am not there yet, but I believe, if I work at it hard enough, I can reach that goal. One of the reasons I love this annual backpacking trip so much is that it always reminds me of that long-term goal AND of the fact that it is achievable. While this Outward Bound trip is designed to help the students become the best people they can be, it truly helps me do the same, and I absolutely love this annual reminder.
To Serve, To Strive, and not To Yield. Let's us all always be Outward Bound.
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