School Days

I've been feeling a little extra nostalgic for my teaching days lately--the rites of passage of a school year typically bring this on; from the first day of school to snow days to graduation season--and one of my favorite things about Facebook is that it allows me to keep in touch with some of my former students.

It feels like a lifetime since I've been in a classroom, having left teaching three years ago. Rarely does a week pass that I don't miss that unique connection and energy you can only find in a classroom--and it always comes around midway through the school year. When a class has evolved from a group of strangers to a community of learners; when you've had laughs and frustrations together and the students are learning and growing...that magic is so powerful. Having dinner with a former colleague and her husband the other night, I spoke about how much I missed that magic--being in a classroom--but how I don't miss the day to day of grading papers, dealing with drama, being awake and working at 7am.

This week, a number of my former students are graduating from college--it's amazing how time flies, and I am so very proud of them. Watching their joy on Facebook reminds me of little moments with each one, moments of triumph and ones of frustration, remembering how they were just beginning to discover themselves. The greatest gift of teaching is that I can carry each of those wonderful young people, all of their hopes and dreams, every day of that experience, with me everywhere I go--and I call upon those times, and all I learned from it, to inform what I do each day.

I hope some day soon that I'll be back in a classroom again--as if I don't have enough jobs :) I've been thinking an intro to American Politics class one night a week would be ideal.