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A Light Touch
[ Journal Entry ]
I want to share something I wrote when I was
learning to hang glide. It shows some parallels with action
research that I thought were interesting.
First of all I
had two tandem flights, one right after the other, both
lasting about 15 minutes. As I put the gear on and mounted
the tow stage Barry announced that I would be doing the release
and the fly-up! I wasn’t exactly prepared
for that–although last week he asked if I wanted to, I
still don’t feel that I handle the glider with enough
control to initiate the launch. Because the most hazardous
part of the flight is the tow I quite frankly don’t trust
my ability to make judgments about what to do when something
unexpected happens. That aside, Barry positioned me so that
I was below him with my hands on the control bar. We staged
the kite, the truck began to accelerate, and then he released
and I had to fly the kite. A big part of what is scaring
me is that I’m
still overcontrolling the glider—my control movements
are much to big, and I wait too long before returning to
a central ‘trim’ position.
I expect the glider to respond more quickly than it does
and when it doesn’t respond I exaggerate my control input
even further. What this does is set the kite oscillating
from side to side and I’m afraid we’ll go so far
off course that the tow will abort. It hasn’t happened,
but I freeze. Barry is there to bring the kite back under
control but I’m not sure I can do that for myself if
I were to be alone.
I suspect people feel the same thing about
initiating an action research enterprise. I imagine you’re
feeling something like I was—not
sure what to do if something unexpected occurs. Just remember,
I’m
there with you, just as Barry was beside me. In fact, that
evening, on the second flight, Barry had me initiate a series
of turns, some gentle, others quite steeply banked, and then
take my hands completely off the control bar. He wanted me to
see that a very small input had a significant effect and that
the kite is quite stable and able to follow through without
me having to hang on tightly.
Teaching is very like that—generally
we give way too much input when a light touch is all that
is required.
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