Today I have positive energy. Spirit has moved me, so I’m writing again.
Students are back at the middle school. I’m not there, but I just talked to the guidance counselor who I work closely with. Polite as he is, I gathered in our two minutes and eight seconds of conversation that he and the guidance staff were overwhelmed. ”Kids are showing up just now to register; we have kids coming in from the ALC (alternative learning center); the front office is swamped.” I kind of felt bad for him, but I also enjoyed the thought of the energy of school (and I’ll be there tomorrow). I’ve written lesson plans for the next couple of weeks–getting students to reconsider the purpose of advisory, to evaluate their own groups, and also getting them to reflect on Martin Luther King, Jr. (the holiday is coming up soon) and doing collective writing projects in poetry based on MLK’s vision and their own visions for the future.
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All this good energy may come from meeting the Korean teachers yesterday (ok, and maybe also the days off I took). It was so exciting to see them facing such an interesting experience. I enjoyed meeting with several of them over lunch. Conversations ranged from American standards of beauty (primarily whiteness) to politics in the U.S. to comparing education systems. We also shared personal stories about marriage, social expectations regarding marriage and children, and our experiences as teachers. Today is the first day I actually teach them. I’m so looking forward to the feedback loop of teaching (daunting as it is). Maybe I’ve really missed the teaching aspect of my life.
Most of the books I ordered have arrived for my spring classes. I’m looking forward to reading them and intend to get started now (though I can’t seem to put down the novel I’m reading in my free time–Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz). I need to read a lot more Pierre Bourdieu–especially for a paper I’m working on… and there he is, author of “Outline of a Theory of Practice,” among the books waiting for me.
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