When it's report card time (and, since I'm teaching summer school, it actually is right now) I start to reminisce about teaching swimming, and how it actually made more sense than teaching school does.
* The purpose of the lessons was clear - to learn to swim. There was no blaming the teacher for fostering the breakdown of society because she hadn't taught such-and-such. We were all there to swim.
* Students were in classes according to their level. When they had mastered the group of required skills then they moved up to the next level. Otherwise, they stayed in the same level where they got the practice they needed until they were ready.
* Report cards were checklists of skills and then one anecdotal comment - "It's been fun teaching you. Have a darn swell summer!"
Oh, who am I kidding? Even as I type this I know I'm romanticizing. Sure the skills were set out, but what signified a "pass" certainly varied depending on the instructor. I remember, shamefully, that for a chunk of my career I was far too lenient about what constituted a pass because I wanted the kids to feel good about what they'd accomplished (that damn symbol of earning a badge) and that some of my students really struggled in the next level because they really weren't ready to be there. That was a difficult lesson for me to learn.
Then I moved to another city, and on to another pool where I encountered my polar opposite - instructors who prided themselves on being tough on the kids and imposed their own higher standards that bore no relation to the Red Cross guidelines. Swimming as boot camp. It wasn't much fun teaching there at times - those instructors kept complaining about me - but I stood my ground and my supervisors ended up siding with me.
As for why we were there, well it was more than just swimming. It was about having fun, and building confidence, and fitness, and better judgement, and making friends, and being creative too.
Why am I semi-pining then? When I write report cards, I worry about the students who haven't "got it" yet - what is it that they need that's still missing, what can I do to help them? And, even with smaller classes, even with a shorter curriculum, it all comes down to time.
If I could just sit with each of them, one-on-one, a little bit longer, maybe I could do a little bit more to get them comfortable in the water, and swimming on their own. More time is what makes sense.
