Wednesday before vacation

Wow--just wow.

And there are still two more days?

Tomorrow and Friday we are learning about the Bill of Rights. Or is it more accurate to say that I will be teaching about the Bill of Rights? I surely* want them to learn. We'll have "translations" of each right, we'll create pictograms that incorporate the number of the right with its meaning (picture a bear holding a gun-shaped number two), we'll chant--but will they LEARN? Only one way to find out...

[*Don't call me Shirley.]

a little low...

There are such highs and lows in this line of work; I'm experiencing a bit of a dip at the moment.

I and many of my colleagues are reading The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need--And What We Can Do About It by Tony Wagner.

We had a wonderful meeting; the book is interesting and so are the people I work with. But I left feeling terrible. The gap between what I believe is best for my kids and their current reality is vast. The gap between the teacher I aspire to be and my current reality is equally wide. The gap between our culture's obsession with fame, pleasure, instant gratification and ease, and the road to true satisfaction and success and joy is even wider.

If there were any sand in my house, I'd be inclined to bury my head today. I need to take a walk and breathe the December air, and try to remember what is most important about any of our lives or jobs on a daily basis: love and conscientious effort, love and conscientious effort.