Educational Meander: How to Paint A Donkey? Unfolding Individuality in Teaching

This poem, “How to Paint a Donkey”, by Naomi Shihab Nye, describes an emotionally hurt child who could not paint a donkey pleasing to her teacher.

She said the head was too large,

The hooves too small,

I could clean my paintbrush,

But I couldn’t get rid of that voice,

While they watched,

I crumbled him,

Let his blue body stain my hand,

I cried when he hit the can.

She smiled, I could try again.

Maybe this is what I unfold in the dark,

Deciding for the rest of my life,

The donkey was just the right size.

The child heard the criticism of her teacher…

“She said the head was too large. The hooves too small”.

And as a result, she throws the painting away,

“I crumbled him.

Let his blue body stain my hand,

I cried when he hit the can”.

We can feel how personal this donkey was to this child. But it was not acceptable.

We are aware of the stereotype of the insensitive teacher being too critical of children but perhaps we are at a time when it is teachers who feel criticized for the way they teach. Many teachers are discouraged. In one way or another they are often being told that there is only one way to teach and their own personal way is not good enough. ~There is pressure to conform. ~As a result their own personalized art of teaching they once loved and embraced is being crumbled up and thrown in the can. ~

I don’t think we fully realize how if the vast majority of teachers have to conform to one style we are disempowering them of their passion, their gifts and their sense of belonging. We cannot continue to throw aside the unique personhood and style of the teacher.

What can we do?  Like the child in the poem, maybe we can find a quiet place in the dark and “unfold” what we have crumbled up and canned. We need to grieve over what we have thrown away and decide for the rest of our teaching career that our donkey was just the right size.