The Big Fresh June 18, 2016 What We Brew

What we have been becomes

The country where we are.

Wendell Berry

We Portlanders love our tea and coffee. It’s part of our identity, warding off the gray mornings with bracing jolts of caffeine-induced liquid energy. It is a Northwest tribal ritual that fights off seasonal affective disorders. My preference is for Premium Earl Grey which I purchase from a favorite shop in the Pearl District. I hoard this tea, and carefully measure it out by the teaspoon each afternoon, savoring the experience.

In his book How, Then, Shall We Live?, Wayne Muller tells a story about some friends who travel to China and bring back old teapots to sell to support their traveling habits: “The pots were made of clay and were very old, some several hundred years old. Gaylon told me that the Chinese say after a hundred years of daily use, the pot becomes thoroughly seasoned. You need only pour hot water into the pot, and the pot itself will make tea.”

Reading this story, I found myself asking the question, “If you poured water into me, what would I brew?” One of the profound truths that has informed my life as an educator is the simple tenet “You teach who you are”–for good or ill. What is steeping within me that flavors my encounters with the children and teachers I work with? I want to remind myself of my grounding in my daily encounters. What do I believe in and how is that coming out in my relationships with the school community?  And where might I be a bit jaded—not relying on my best self, but falling back on old unexamined habits?

This fall, over my daily afternoon tea, I’ll be asking what is brewing in my teaching encounters.  And I’ll be asking my colleagues and friends to ponder:  “What have you experienced over the years to the point that it has become a part of who you are and what you do?  If we poured water into you, what would you brew?”
This week we look at rethinking some of the routines that define writing workshops, the habits of experience often developed over many years and classrooms. Plus more as always — enjoy!

Ruth Shagoury

Contributor, Choice Literacy

Ruth Shagoury is a professor emeritus at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. She blogs with her daughter Meghan Rose about children’s books at www.litforkids.com.

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