In the Groove

I don't get how real grown-ups handle it. I'm getting pretty well settled into my job teaching, these days. I enjoy going to school most days, even when I'm not sure what I'm going to do beforehand (which is most days--new teachers of the world, be advised that your first year will be killer. You have to have some flexibility with your plans, but you also have to try and plan ahead so you're not just hoping for a miracle each day when you arrive. I've had several miracles already, such as opening a book, picking out a poem, and then somehow successfully leading a fifty-minute discussion on that poem. "Of course," you might be saying, "you went to school for six years and know a lot more than your average high school junior." True, but to find something meaningful AND TO MAKE TEENAGERS THINK IT'S MEANINGFUL TOO is not the easiest thing in the world to do. But it is fun.).

Anyway, I enjoy school quite a bit, and the kids are a constant source of bemused entertainment. But between lesson plans, grading (which for English teachers is never ending), faculty meetings, committee meetings, office hours, commuting, and a church calling that keeps me busy Wednesday nights, Sundays, and various weekends, I feel like I'm constantly on the go or with something on my plate. So here's to you, real grown-ups, who do all I do and more by tossing children, sick family members, and other real responsibilities into the mix. I don't know how you do it. Either I have time management problems, or I'm lazy (hint: this is likely), or you know some secret I don't, but whatever the case, I salute you who can get everything done in a day that you need to. You have my respect.

School continues to go pretty well. I seem to be well-liked. I've been complimented numerous times on my style (who knew? I was always the no-style kid all growing up. Apparently putting a tie on me really sparkles things up) and though my class is sometimes hard (tests and essays), it also seems to be fun. I mean, that's why teaching English is great. We get to talk about all the stuff that makes life worth living: love, sex, revenge, happiness, pleasure, pain, laughter, marriage, death. And that's just Hamlet.

Quote of the Week: "In the film Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams teaches his students to cease the day!"