Somehow I blinked and summer was over. I'm not sure whether it was teaching session one of summer school or devoting most of my days to working on my concept proposal, but this summer flew by! It's hard to believe that I began my 12th year of teaching, especially since it's the 12th year at the same school. Over the past 12 years, I managed to survive being riffed, bumped, and living on a partial contract. I've coached two sports, served as the student council advisor, oversaw the newspaper, served on various leadership teams, and am the department chair. All of these experiences have shaped me into the person, teacher, and leader I am today. Teaching is still my heart, my passion, and my hope.
However, I have to admit, that I began this year in tears. While I love having been at Washington for 12 years, it means that I am now a veteran teacher. A veteran teacher who felt really alone in August. I sat in my room on the day of freshman orientation and literally cried. I cried for the faces I knew I wouldn't see in August, for the debauchery that has become public education in Indiana, for the loss of days to read and work on my dissertation, and for all the teachers in South Bend (everywhere!) trying to fight the good fight. I cried and then I vented, drank some beer, and prayed. I prayed for some guidance, for hope, and for strength to be who God wants me to be.
As I was praying, I was reminded of two things I had been working on in my own life spiritually. One was my desire to be the best version of myself. If you actually take on this task, you'll realize that being your best self is hard. It's a daily battle and requires a lot of discipline, but I can honestly say that the challenge and self reflection has been worth it. So with that goal in mind, I decided to make that my purpose for teaching this year. I have a feeling it will remain my purpose for the remainder of my career. Walking into my classroom with the belief that my purpose is to help my students be the best version of themselves is empowering. It's challenging, but amazing. It reminds me that my students are so much more than a standardized test, a list of objectives, a writing assignment, or a piece of text. They are young people trying to navigate the world and what their place in it is. So we reflect on how to be the best version of ourselves on a daily basis, and we write about the things that prevent us from being the best version of ourselves. The beauty is that we fail. Some days, some hours, some minutes, we simply are not the best version of ourselves. But each day is a fresh start, and I believe in redemption.
The second thing that I've been working on corresponds so closely with the first. There's a quote from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that I fell in love with over the summer. It goes like this: "so shines a good deed in a weary world". I think we're all overburdened with the weariness of the world. There's so much of it, that it can make us feel defeated. Yet this quote, coupled with my own faith in God, reminds me that good still exists, and that it's up to use to prove it. It isn't enough to have faith, we have to do the works to back that faith up, even when we're tired, even when the world is a mess. So my second goal is to be that good deed; to shine, even though I'm weary.
Here's to the 2015-2016 school year. May the odds be ever in your favor :)
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