Teaching Them to Fish

 by Penni Sparks

When I sit at the back of the classroom, I delight in watching the fresh eagerness and expectation and even hunger that lives in the very being of the children when they come to school – at any age.  One part of my lucky lot in life is to support and mentor those teachers who invite me into their classrooms as ‘another pair of eyes.’  As an attempt to objectively record what I am seeing, I find more and more that what I am looking for is action – an activity in each individual child, an inner awakening of what they already know and are not quite conscious of yet.  This diving into each child and drawing out the lesson of the day is the sweet task of the teacher, for the root of the word educate is educare, to draw out.  In one sense, we stand before them dangling nourishing ‘bait’ in the form of a well prepared lesson-question, and we can see ourselves as fishermen – ‘fishers of men’ – and of boys and girls.

Every day that we, as guides for the children, whether as teachers, parents, counselors, relatives, or friends, engage in this pursuit of ‘fishing,’ we also model for the children the healthy soul activity of an adult who is teachable herself by continuing along the path of active searching and learning.  We acknowledge our rightful role of constant ‘questing’ through the activity of ‘quest-ioning.’  Ideally all teaching – in any ‘classroom’ – serves the child best when ‘questing for the truth’ begins with a worthy question.

The activity of learning can only occur when the complete stirring of the soul takes place – from the outside in, from the bottom up.  We get to do this when we honor the spirit of the child, and the adult, living in a physical body by moving that body thoroughly, feeding it well, clothing it sufficiently and appropriately, and offering it times of rest, passivity, and deep sleep.  The rhythm established between healthy activity and quiet rest can help the child literally ‘breathe in‘ the lesson for the day.

I look at the classroom as a large lake, one that the teacher stocks each day with a healthy ‘catch’ of various, tasty kinds of fish.  Now comes the challenge.  If we’re not awake, if we’re not questing for the truth, we can find ourselves at the mercy of unexamined beliefs.  One such instance occurs when we find ourselves operating under the social myth that the children ought to be left alone ‘to choose to fish if they want to’ or ‘to discover the consequences of not fishing.’  

Other educators take the time to teach the etiquette and skills required to become a master fisherman.  Great time is spent teaching the students how to bait a hook; silence is practiced so you can catch the fish; properly sitting in the boat; lunch time and moving about is regularly scheduled so no one ‘tips the boat.’  Trash is properly disposed of so that the lake and all that live in it can continue to be a fresh home for more fish when we return tomorrow.  Equipment is carefully used, cleaned, and put away. The proper bait is used for specific fish in order to be most successful and efficient with the time spent waiting for a nibble.  Fishing is practiced over and over and over again – only luck, not great fishing mastery – catches a fish without such diligent practice.  

Are we here to ennoble our apprentices to be masters in the active art of fishing, or are we here to enable them to sit passively watching others fish for them?  

We permit this un-nourishing soul capacity of passivity to grow in our children every time we simply give them an answer; every time we make them listen to our well-spoken, one-way lectures on what they ought to do; every time we simply inform them that “it’s not okay with me when you….”; every time we merely ask them to nod their heads in agreement with, ‘Do you understand?’ After each well-meaning encounter when we find that nothing has changed, we sigh and ask ourselves, “What’s wrong… with them… with me?” 

A wise eastern saying warns:   

“Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him today; teach a man to fish, and you’ll feed him for a lifetime.”

I suggest we look carefully at how many times a day we simply hand out fish, allowing our children to passively receive a meal instead of taking the time to teach them how to use all the tools necessary to fish for themselves.  That means they are able to show you their mastery of skills so far, such as: checking the pole, untangling the line, stringing the bait, taking note of the weather… you’ve got the picture.

That means that we, as Master Fishermen, require them show us, not tell us, what they already know, and this is a great activity for developing a deep sense of self-knowledge and confidence in any of us.  It also requires that we are silent enough to hold a space for them to show us they are well trained in the use of the ennobled tool of questioning, of asking for help.   

This action we engage in keeps us wordlessly waiting to fish the best out of them. It keeps us busy keeping them busy learning how to feed themselves for a lifetime.  What greater gift to give to our children and to future generations of our ‘starving’ world. 

Penni Sparks is a core faculty member of the WHE Online International Handwork Teacher Development Program. She is a 41-year Waldorf educator and former school director. She taught high school drama, English, math, history, and more before graduating eight eighth grades as a class teacher. Penni also served on the faculty of Rudolf Steiner College’s summer trainings and continues to work extensively as a speaker, evaluator, and consultant across the Waldorf movement.

Her first book, The ABC’s of Being Human, reflects her lifelong dedication to inner work, education, and human connection. Her second book is due out in Fall 2025.

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