It's a little concerning to me that I feel this way before the kids even come, but the magic secret that I think we teachers sometimes forget is that the students are the very inspiring people we tend to subconsciously think of when we do our best work. It's important and necessary to think big picture and come together as a staff and organize and prepare and build, but it's also important to be someone who exudes something good when teaching. And you don't build that. You just are someone, each and every day.
Teaching is so layered, or at least there is a duality to everything we try to do. Gentle yet strict, facts but also wonder for the world, human error alongside of standards. Movements in history that cover centuries AND one person's life story. Trying to be tactful in a classroom when sometimes the students just aren't.
I think the blend of all of this is what makes it exciting and interesting, but currently I do no naturally remember that. I read the poem called 'Witness' last night from an earlier post, just to realign myself with the reality that fatigue makes you feel like you're between a rock and a hard place when you sometimes just are not.
Last night we had Back to School Night, and I was completely worn out. That's all I think I'll say about it. Even though we were a little dead on our feet, it was nice to know that I have great colleagues and the year will be good with them. They are hilarious, and make long and winding meet and greets really fun.
This morning I looked up a quote about teaching, to find the buoyancy for another day of meetings and preparation. What I found could be in direct opposition to what I was critiquing in the paragraph from the Anne books, but now, a few days before school, it seems ok to do that very thing.
So here it is. As usual, thanks for the inspiration, Ralph Waldo Emerson.
"The great teacher is not the man who supplies the most facts, but the one in whose presence we become different people."
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