In the Company of Boredom

Translated…

“I’m totally bored!”, the little boy hid out at the corner, and this, was his third declaration.  On the scenes, the other students were still, practicing the acting techniques I’d taught to them.  This drama class of mixed grade level of elementary school students, only held for half an hour at a time, with a ten-minute break in between the sessions, similar to how the students’ regular school days were.  The course was called, “The Education of Arts and Beauty”, with the sponsoring organization and school working together, after selecting twenty students who voluntarily got involved, with three courses in the areas of architecture, art, and drama.  This day, was the final class for the drama, and, this fifth-grade boy’s “cries” from the very first class time to this last, is considered, persistent, I suppose.

not my picture…

I recalled how the first time the drama class started, after not yet warming up for five minutes, this particular boy first spoke of his personal opinion, “Why are we warming up?  Too tiring”. After I’d explained to him the importance, of warming up, the boy still wasn’t really into it, only when he was being asked, to swing at someone next to him, did he show his energies.  And still, with my telling him to stop it, he’d, fallen into that state of constant animosity toward my course.

“I’m bored to death.  Teacher, can I play on my iPad instead?”, the boy asked me, as he walked toward the edge of the classroom, where he left his backpack.  For the ten minute of free time between classes, he’d gotten so into the games on his iPad he’d not gone to the bathrooms.  “No, if you don’t like this class, you can watch the rest of the students by the side, but, you cannot do anything that will distract the class.”  With a total disregard for the class, the boy had, lain down on the floors, and started, taking that nap now.

not my photo…

During the free time between the second and third period, I’d asked the boy over to have a chat.  Originally, I’d thought that he was forced to take my class at the demands of his parents, but turned out, he was, very interested in performing, and signed up for the sessions voluntarily.  After I’d asked him further, he’d managed to find an argument, that had me stumped, “because you’d taken forever for just one exercise, I’m so bored.”  I’d recalled how I was learning to mime in Paris for those couple of years, I’d practiced for five hours a day, and the courses would be exactly the same, year, after year, and, it was, truly, very, boring indeed, and, there were times, when I’d, wanted to give up on it, but, I’d always ended, staying.  And I’d stayed, for just one simple thought—if I do something, I shall do it the best I possibly can.  And still, later on, I’d found, that there’s no best in the things that I’m doing, but five years later, I was able to see a me, after being polished up—my putting up with the boredom, it’d helped me build the fundamentals of my sturdy miming skills.  What my mime instructor handed down to me wasn’t the endless creativity, or how I’d needed to, chase the thrills of performing with my body, but the right attitude, to carry, to do something to perfection.  “Boring is the devil”, but, we’re always learning, how, to dance with the devil, and, if we can look harder, we will, find that halo that’s hidden, behind, the devil’s back.

Of course, it’s not identical, to “hear miming as a calling” and “offering an experimental course”, but, in my experiences of holding these workshops, I’d still used to, instill some of what I’d learned under the tables to my students, especially, in this day and age, where we focused on speed, the era of information overload and ever-changing times.

“There are, multiple levels of development to a practice, it’s not a game where you’re supposed to seek to become, the highest scorer, or the best placement, or get through past that final level in a game.”  I know, that this sort of an explaining to a fifth grader who’d spent most of his time on an iPad may be too cliché, but I’d still told him, “If you really feel that you can’t stay in class, then, maybe, you can ask your teacher, that next time you don’t need to come to my class then?”

not my photo…

And, at the final course, that boy still showed up, he’d not fixed his own problems one bit.  When the rest of the students slowly, used the pieces of clay I’d placed in front of them, and managed, to make a three-minute small at, the little boy called out his third, “It’s so boring!”  and, it was, at this time, that a girl in the class stated, “You feeling bored, that’s your problem, I think this is interesting!”, the boy who was scolded by the girl made a face at her, returned to the resting area.  He did NOT leave my classroom, didn’t take out that electronic device stashed in his backpack, just mumbled, “If I’d only known, then I wouldn’t have shown up.”

So, from this, you can see, that this boy was trying to challenge his teacher, and when you’re teaching a class of children, there will be those kids who act out, because of the experiences of their lives, maybe because nobody gives a DAMN about them at home, or some other reasons, and, the instructor needs to use her/his wisdom, to handle situations such as this, and, in this case, that little boy who became disruptive was stopped, by his own peers.