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I am so excited to be on The Children’s Hour this Saturday to share my experiences as a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow in the Arctic and to encourage kids to be Explorers!
@natgeoeducation @natgeo @lindbladexp #gtf2018 #natgeo #explore Today, we started to think about this question - What does it mean to be an Explorer? Sylvia Earle was one of five Explorers we met today via videos to begin to answer these questions: What are some characteristics of an Explorer? What motivates Explorers? How do Explorers make a difference in the world?
I've said it before (and I'll say it again), I am so excited to take kids out on our fall 3-day camping trip in a couple of weeks so that our students learn how they, too, are Explorers. #natgeoeducation 6pm information meeting for families about our upcoming expedition with the Cottonwood Gulch. We leave with 50+ 8th graders on our two night camping trip in 20 days!!
Grateful for morning meetings that make me giggle with delight, like watching kids play 3-legged indoor soccer. Bonus: no one broke a leg (even the kids were worried when today’s game was introduced.) 6:17pm. I’m not proud of this view. I don’t wear this as a badge of honor. The lonely walk from classroom to parking lot has often been a walk of regret. I understand that the permeable boundaries I’ve single-handedly created have been portals to wonders and to painful realizations that I’ve missed out on parts of my life that I shouldn’t have missed out on. These days, when Sarah is at dance 6 days a week, until 7:30-8:00pm on weekdays, I have less guilt about staying late to organize, regroup, connect, and create. I can honestly say that I didn’t miss the ‘big things’ (well, except when I was on my expedition to the Arctic and I missed Sarah’s dance recital. Bittersweet, for sure.) But I’ve missed the ordinary that turns out to be the heart of extraordinary when I count out the years, months, days until Sarah graduates from high school, or when I watch her sleep and see, simultaneously, the stunning young woman and the sweet baby girl who slept with her Puppy.
I have yet to figure out this work-life balance, maybe because I don’t see teaching only as work. I see it as Me. Teaching brings me immeasurable joy. And, if I’m being honest, it compels my ego to feel rather good about herself all the while insisting that I work just a bit harder to do more….more….more. I would like more balance. (I would also, for once, like to have a teacher to-do list that is actually achievable within a reasonable, finite amount of time.) I’m working on it. Definitely not as much as I could or should be. I wonder if I’ll continue to skirt around this truth, if I’ll begin to baby step my way towards a more balanced, sustainable life, or if I will be catapulted to the end zone, provoked by some life-altering event or epiphany. Until I figure this out, I’ll try to be a little less hard on myself when I stay late and try to freakin’ celebrate myself when I leave on time. |
Teaching Stories
A year in the life of a middle school teacher Archives
November 2018
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