The noble matter of teaching

As a participant in an experimental construction project to build a medieval castle, I returned filled with a unique experience that subsequently enriched my teaching.

Dressed in the clothing worn at the time, I understood how much clothing dictates our behaviour: loose and comfortable, it allowed great freedom of movement. I moulded tiles using clay extracted on site, cut and stacked stones for the towers, chopped thin slices of wood tiles with an axe from a chopping block, baked bread with flour ground at the mill, crushed stones and earth to obtain the pigments needed for painting, made quicklime, wove hemp ropes, lifted heavy loads while walking in the treadmill... And before each task, I was given 15 short minutes of explanations! I made mistakes over and over again, and I learned over and over again.

I understood that the efficiency of the gesture came from the careful observation of the working material, that nature dictated the operation, that the whole body was the instrument. I understood that the building took on meaning thanks to the materials extracted on site and ingeniously used, because the plan took them into account. I understood that everyone worked with intense concentration but that all were focused on the work in total cooperation. The body acquired its own rhythm, the sounds of each construction site echoed each other, meals in the common room added to the sharing.

Above all, I understood that the design had to be noble, allowing the material to express its nobility; that the body was the real tool, and that the same applies to teaching, where the learner constitutes the precious material to be worked on by the teacher, who becomes a tool in the service of the work. A work of meaning.

A vision that is more important than ever to preserve today.