Skip to main content

Anticipation

 It has a name. It’s called anticipation and it’s the first phase of the teaching cycle. This special time of the year for teachers of all levels is one of the most enjoyable.  That manic time before the school year actually starts when teachers have the luxury of thinking ahead and getting excited about the coming year. 

All those things you are planning to do differently. The new ideas that you’ll try for the first time. A roll book and a grade book that’s empty and pristine. And those classes you are anxious to meet. The first few weeks in a school year are all about anticipation. 

Even though the last couple of years, with virtual teaching and the COVID restrictions calling the shots have taken their toll, this is the time of year that teachers feel the pull of starting over. It’s a good pull. It’s fun to set up a classroom, prepare for those first few days, and meet new people. That includes new colleagues and students. Right now a first year teacher will soon experience live bodies in the same room for the first time. A 30 year veteran will be thankful to get back to what they know best. Both will relish the fact that they will be able to talk to real people and not screen images. Their outlook will change because a measure of consistency might emerge.

Of course, the fight over mask mandates or the lack of them will soon complicate matters. This anticipation will come to include being able to stay in the classroom, plan activities for rooms full of young voices, young energy and curiosity. Will it last? How long? 

I feel for these teachers. I can only imagine how my preparations for beginning another school year would be going we’re I still in the classroom. Either way I certainly hope the new year offers civil conversations about how complicated all this has become. Excellent teachers everywhere of every subject and level will incorporate all this into their lessons. Let the anticipation begin. Let it last a little longer this year. There is plenty of time for the disillusionment to follow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To a Tee

 I'm a sucker for a good t-shirt.  They are the foundational garment of my life.  My day starts with selecting a t-shirt and it ends with sleeping in one.  Once thought of as under garments, t-shirts are now original art and no doubt, a billion dollar business.   You can get a t-shirt with anybody's picture displayed.  You can commemorate an event, a birthday, a death, even a specular play in any sport.  Family reunions usually have a commemorative t-shirt.  Also, any organization that solicits your support in the form of a donation is likely to offer you a t-shirt. Where once I only had the basic white t-shirt, my drawers are filled with all manner of colorful choices.  Some recognize major events in my life, some, spectacular performances or plays I have witnessed, and some unforgettable places I have been.   I say I'm a sucker for a good t-shirt because I have taken the bait on what I perceived as a must-have only to be disappointed. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Illusory

What does it take to enrage you?  That moment when your words fly on pure emotion because enough is enough.  Is it a driver that cuts you off at high speed?  What about being an eyewitness to blatant racism or on the receiving end of some obvious injustice? I know some people who never express rage.  I admire them but know full well I am not capable of such distance from that which would bring about such a strong response. Another senseless shooting and 7 people die at the hands of a mentally ill gun owner.  The father of the 20 year old college student lets it fly and somehow millions feel a new sense of relief.  He calls the politicians bastards who do nothing, he wears his pain in public.  The news media responds but we all know that nothing is going to change.  We are the gun country.  We are the place where anybody, anytime, can be cut down just for being there when somebody else snaps. Usually the perpetrators are delusional. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mr. Greene v. Mr. Brown

I want to tell you about something. Something I've carried inside myself for a number of years now. Perhaps if I were a different kind of person I wouldn't need to talk about it. I'm not. My need to tell it is stronger than your need to hear it. Because, however, there are a number of teachers and former students of mine who may read these meanderings from time to time, I need to tell this story all the more. About 7 or 8 years ago I was asked if I would allow a university PhD. candidate to observe an English class. At first I decided against it because I was scheduled to have a student teacher placed with me the second half of the semester in question. After some urging, however, at the request of a respected colleague, I agreed. Soon I was committing to extra meetings, signing documents and explaining to the class in question who the young woman who thoughtfully pounded away on a laptop in the rear of the classroom three times a week was. I knew that the topic of ...
3 comments
Read more