Teacher Field Trip: Bodhi Spa in Newport, RI

It's school vacation week in Massachusetts, which means I haven't taught all week! This hasn't really been a "break" for me since I still have grad school, but it has been a chance to breathe and catch up on some self-care in between writing papers and reading articles (I've about had it with Reimer and Elliott...)

I took a spa trip with my best friend (who's not a teacher) today to check out the Bodhi Spa in Newport. We went to a Scandinavian hydrotherapy spa up in Montreal a couple years ago, and decided to try a spot a little closer to home this time.

The Water Journey at Bodhi Spa was a cycle of hot and cold water experiences, including steam rooms, showers, pools, and saunas. They have a really awesome chart (anchor charts in the wild!) hanging on their wall to remind you of all the steps in their recommended cycle. Basically, the process is to start in a body-temperature pool, cycle between hot and cold several times, rest, and repeat. The cold really is a shock to the system but it feels oddly good and relaxing in contrast with the heat from the sauna, pools and steam room. It was a great way to spend a few hours away from the New England cold (and constantly pinging electronics!) and refresh.

The spa is pretty small, but they keep the number of guests limited enough that it never got loud or overcrowded. There were plenty of fancy spa waters, towels, and ice towels to be had. The spa provides robes, towels, and flip-flops. We stayed for around two and a half hours, and I think that was about the ideal amount of time.

It was a fun escape, a great excuse to head out on a day trip (we snuck in some shopping and lots of eating while we were in Rhode Island) and I definitely hope to go again!

What's the point?

I had an observation a few weeks ago, and due to life happening didn't have a post-conference until this week. It went fine, with the usual questions and recommendations that I always expect from being observed by an administrator who hasn't taught music. But one question stuck out to me: why were students working towards this objective, and how did they know? It's a legitimate question, and something I definitely hadn't made explicit even though I did have a plan for why they were doing this and where they were going with it. It didn't strike me because of my lesson that I taught. It struck me because of my experiences in grad school.

This is week 2 of my last class, I'm finally almost done. But I have no idea why I'm being asked to re-read articles I've written about before in order to put together a summary in this course's preferred format. I have no idea why I'm being treated like a middle schooler with lots incremental deadlines and paper pushing in the capstone of a masters degree. I have no idea why I have to sit through "live classroom" online meetings that say the same thing I have already read in the course content. Literally, the point of every class activity for me so far is to jump through one of the hoops remaining between me and an expensive piece of paper I need for a pay raise and recertification. It's compliance in the worst sense, doing things for the sake of following directions, earning points, and getting through this as quickly and painlessly as possible. I did an assignment last week figuring it was just barely enough to earn an A... and I was right. Sure, I'd learn more if I put more in. But I just can't. There's no point. Beyond finishing this degree, doing the tasks of this class is merely teaching me how to be a compliant point-grubber who formats really well. It's not learning. It's not useful. Another $3000 plus wasted on educational hypocrisy. Only 72 days until I'm done learning how not to teach.