Today I had a great conversation with several teachers about tools and teaching. We wandered about challenges and opportunities and it was what I love: wondering about teaching and learning.
But, near the end, one of the less “techy” teachers said, and I quote, “I really want to learn how to make a PowerPoint.”
At which point I recited my two favorite sections of The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. I have written them below in case you have forgotten them.
Then said a teacher, “Speak to us of Teaching.”
And he said:
No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of our knowledge.
The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.
If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.
The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.
The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.
And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither.
For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.
And even as each one of you stands alone in God’s knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth.
Then said a student, “Speak to us of PowerPoint.”
And he said:
No presentation from Microsoft to Prezi can dwell as deeply in you as the fiery vision sparked by the human soul.
The presentation that lay sleeping like cattle in the fields will yield the same harvest as noontime naps.
Yet if a student interrupts the presenter in the midst of slide seven with curious wonder, the teacher will best answer even though there is little time to cover the remaining slides.
A beautiful visual graphic is not the thing represented but rather a thin vision of the glowing world it represents.
As the painter paints a tapestry deep in hue and reflective of light, a presentation only describes the brilliance of the very earth itself.
For the information bulleted and bolded does not make a wise man.
And even as each well prepared presentation is delivered differently, and the subject matter varied, each student must rejoice with God in the nearing end of lengthy Powerpoint and lectures.