Where Are We?

Finding one’s way around Dubai can be a challenge. A road might have a name. Or it might not. A road can be nothing more than a sandy path with no pavement yet it can have gorgeous villas lining both sides. And with the speed at which roads are built, having a GPS that’s up-to-date is just about impossible.

Last weekend our daughter was invited to a party at a home she had not visited before, and she arranged to ride with a friend. Her dad and I had an address and written directions that we were to use to pick our daughter up later in the evening. However, knowing how easy it is to get lost in Dubai, we decided to follow her friend’s parents to make sure we could locate the house.

Needless to say, we ended up getting lost. And by “we” I mean my husband and me as well as my daughter’s friend’s parents. Our two car caravan circled round and round the neighborhoods for a good 45 minutes without successfully reaching our destination. We referenced the written directions we’d been given, we called the hosts of the party, we tried to use our GPS and even Google maps to locate the address. But we kept ending up at the same (wrong) cul-de-sac.

Finally… FINALLY… we decided to make a left instead of a right at a neighborhood mosque. After a few more turns we ended up at the right place. We knew we had arrived because the house number and the description matched what we had been given. The teenage girl standing by the curb waving at us confirmed our success. We realized during this expedition that we not only learned the whereabouts of the party, but we also learned quite a bit about the neighborhood including the locations of three mosques, several restaurants, a dry cleaner and a shortcut to a major freeway.

Our journey made me think about how learning often takes place in a classroom. As teachers we set goals for our students’ learning and we map out the path for how we think we’re going to get them there. Along the way we might experience unexpected twists and turns that make us wonder, “Where are we?” So we take a step back, monitor the situation using the tools we have, and try a new approach. If we persevere and keep focused on the goal, our students successfully reach the intended destination. And they probably learned quite a bit along the way.