because it is Saturday, a day on which I usually reflect on my purpose.
I am now less than a week away from returning to my classroom - although why we are coming back for Thursday and Friday, when many students will be absent and most of the rest will be unfocused is beyond me. It would have made more sense to have those days off and not have been off the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
I have to plan for several weeks, heading into semester exams beginning on January 20, when we cease having regular classes so we can have LONG periods to be able to do extensive testing (although that applies only to my 3 AP Government classes - there are NO tests in my three STEM classes, all of which are project-based learning). That includes a formal observation by my principal, and - tentatively - a visit to my STEM policy class by an outside expert. For AP Government it has to include time to review the testable content. And while the social studies offices has prepared the multiple choice portion of the test, I have to select from released AP items two "free response question" to be included as part of the exam. So you see, folks, even though I am on "break" I am not completely free of school responsibilities.
It is also the time of year when I explore the possibility of signing up for a summer seminar to improve my knowledge base and skills, perhaps a multiple week seminar with the National Endowment for the Humanities, perhaps a one week session through the Gilder Lerhman Institute. Now that I am back in the classroom, that I will spend time doing that the next few days is an indication to me that I realize I do belong in the classroom, even though I will be 68 in May, which means I expect to be back at my current school next Fall.
More about that below the squiggle.
My focu
Shortly before break I had a number of my students ask me to come back. Most were juniors in my STEM Policy class who would have me again - in Environmental Media or in Research and Data Analysis - or simply wanted me around to write their college recommendations. A few were sophomores in AP Government who wanted to have me in STEM Policy. One reason I had agreed to take this position was that very possibility of teaching the same students over several years.
Against that I have weighed several other issues
- the school system, by negotiated agreement with the union, caps my salary at 20,000 less than my education and experience warrant.
- I commute 45 miles each way. That costs money, even with a hybrid is not all that environmentally responsible. The distance makes it harder to attend events (athletics, performances) in which my students participate.
I am certified in both DC and Virginia, and might well be able to get a job paying much more, much closer to home.
Still, I always fall in love with my students, and that has happened again.
The time involved in getting to and from work has made it harder to do some of the reading and writing to which I have committed, for example, reviewing books on education. I did recently manage to post this review, which not only got some attention here, but through other sources as well. I am currently working on several more, although these will first appear in other publications or websites, in some cases not for several months.
Between the commuting and caring for my wife, I have been less directly involved politically than I can remember in recent decades. Perhaps as a shy extravert that is appropriate? I do know that I can still carve out time to write here about issues that concern me, about things I read I think worthy of sharing. Sometimes the community really likes what I post - several times recently I have had three things on the rec list simultaneously, go figure. Other times for whatever reason things I post get relatively little traffic. So be it. On this I have no complaints, because I have gotten more attention than perhaps my thinking and writing warrant, there are many fine writers and thinkers here.
I have come to realize there are several things of importance lacking in my life.
One is that I am not connected enough musically. Oh, I do get to listen on my long commutes, thanks to both satellite radio and a CD player. Our home stereo died some time ago and at some point we will replace it, including a new record player - this might be the one luxury item on which I will splurge, because we still have thousands of LPs.
I also plan to get the piano worked on - it needs work on the action, and will need to be tuned several times before it will hold. I am a very different person when I can stop my connection with words and express myself through my hands on a piano. I am a better person, because I am more myself.
I am I think about to embark on something else. At age 67 I think I am about to start yoga. My wife has done it in the past, and hopes to return once her back has been strengthened some through physical therapy, a process that begins this coming Friday. The woman who helped care for my wife, and with whom we are now close friends is in the process of getting trained as a teacher, and may soon be teaching classes (although the timing of many of those would preclude our attending) and she has inspired me on this a bit. I am too detached from my body right now, and as one who was an active athlete at least through refereeing and coaching (and in the later I often worked out with my players) through 2007, I realize that I need to remain physically active.
The calendar year draws to a close.
I do not do resolutions per se, a point I made inthis post from earlier today in which I examined a Charles M. Blow piece where he offered his (a diary which, by the way, is getting no traffic at all, which is a shame not because of what I wrote, but because I had hoped to draw people to his writing). In part that is because I am reflective on a regular basis. Also, I tend to divide time by the school years, since that is my focus.
This year my "end of year" reflection will be more a product of what we have lived through as a result of my wife's cancer. The anniversary of our learning about it is just about a month away, on January 27th. That will mark a very "interesting" year for us both.
In the meantime, I remain grateful for my participation in and acceptance by this virtual community. I am glad to have gotten to know many of you face to face, and look forward over the time left in my life to getting to know more of you.
Peace.