Lessons from the pit!

Last week I went to a show at a pretty rad venue in Mesa, The Nile, and witnessed the power of a teacher who believes in his students and the power of a community to learn and help each other succeed. That teacher was the lead singer from the post-hardcore band Drug Church, Patrick Kindlon. He may not be an actual classroom teacher but that night he was exactly what I like to see in a classroom. A facilitator who knows how to encourage and support his students. In this instance, the classroom was the pit, the students where the crowd, and Patrick was the educator leading it all.

Have you ever stage dived? It’s been a long time for me and I can’t really see it happening any time soon either. I’ve been to lots of shows with lots of crowd surfing and stage diving. I was often the person in the pit lifting people up and passing them up to the barrier or back into the crowd. The wave they were surfing on, so to speak. It’s been a couple years since I’ve been in that position too. Well, that night the stage diving was going early and often and kicked off during one of the openers sets. When Drug Church hit the stage, Patrick, like a great teacher, told the crowd what to expect and that was lots of stage diving and crowd surfing. He then let the crowd know how to make that all happen so everyone could have fun. He gave directions to the crowd about getting close together, asking the crowd to lift people up so they wouldn’t fall, and reminding the pit to take care of each other.

I could get really deep into eduspeak right here and talk about learning targets and success criteria but I will spare you. I think you get the picture.

That wasn’t the only time he checked on the students though. It also wasn’t the last time he gave constructive and timeely feedback. As the show went on, he reminded people that not every stage dive was gonna look pretty and telling the crowd that even though someone might jump off and not look cool or maybe they might do it wrong, it was the crowds job to hold them up and help them surf. He even let the crowd know when it was time for those who were nervous to give it a shot.

“Ok this is the slower one. So if you are worried about stage diving or haven’t done it before, this one is for you!”

From my spot just outside the pit, I saw folks who hadn’t jumped all night make their way to the stage. They got helped up and they got caught when the jumped. Ugly dives and all. Like a great teacher, Patrick let folks know it was okay to try and to maybe even look bad doing it because ultimately, the community in that pit wasn’t going to let them fall.

A text from my son about not diving.

Another time during the show he asked everyone to take a break from the diving. He wanted everyone to be able to have fun and dance in the pit. So he asked all the stage divers to take a break. To do something new and something together that they could all be a part of. Because he knew that not everyone was gonna dive and that being the person in the pit lifting people up all night can get boring. So he switched it up. He gave new directions and the crowd had a blast in that pit. They pogoed, they moshed, they swayed, and everyone got to feel a part of the action in that classroom.

I stood on the edge of that pit all night and saw a great classroom lesson take place right in front of me. It was my spring break, otherwise I may have broken out my Danielson Rubric and started scoring.

Watching that show left me wondering what we all can learn from the pit. Are we doing what Patrick did for those folks in the pit for the kids in our classrooms? Are we doing that for the educators we lead as administrators? Are we letting them know it’s okay to try new things? Are we letting them know that no matter what, ugly stage dives and all, we have their back and we wont let them collectively fall? Are we giving feedback and facilitating in a way that gets folks involved and learning? Are we giving people the space and chance to try something they have never done before and creating the environment where they can be successful?

Drug Church at the Nile Theater in Mesa, AZ. 3/13/2023