When during the year are we flushed with enthusiasm for learning?
When do kids come into class wanting to tell me everything that is happening?
When do they fall silent?
When are we mired in minutia?
When are we mired in minutia?
When are kids so engaged they lose track of time?
When does it seem like the very air is electric with curiosity and engagement?
When do routines lose their shine?
When does it seem like the very air is electric with curiosity and engagement?
When do routines lose their shine?
When do kids want to talk all the way out the door about what we were just doing?
When do they lean on one another and help one another?
During the beginning of this year, I told myself I was going to remember the thrill of the first month of school. And I do remember those feelings, that excitement. Putting name tents on tables, responding to interest inventories and building communities with games and stories.
Beginnings are joyous: getting to know students, writing together, introducing students to books. Beginnings shine, so full of light.
The final days before spring break, not so shiny. Some moments as we wrap up quarter three, loom more dark cloud than blue sky.
Tis the school season, I tell myself and this too shall pass. One moment in the feels and rhythms of a school year.
Ebb. Flow. Come. Go. It would be intriguing to have a full account of a year.
ReplyDeleteKevin
I have an almost-blank notebook sitting under a pile of papers on my office desk, put there with the intention of daily reflection...I think I have two days written, a year or two ago. That is the one piece we tend to miss most often in teaching and learning, I think--reflection--most likely due to the incredibly overpacked curriculum that drives our pace. We had a rocky ending before Spring Break, too. May we all come back with lungs of fresh air and clear heads.
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