Am I ready for what's ahead? It seems like this particular eve of a new year has crept up far faster than usual. Today I chose to rebel. How did I rebel? I went to the beach instead of cramming last minute prep into my head and my computer. I feel a little off balance thinking that tomorrow my ducks may go waddling off without my notice, but I like being off balance. When we are off balance we start to learn what true balance is, and maybe as teachers we need to just begin to reconsider that we are the ones who bring everything to the table. Maybe just maybe we should begin by wondering what we will learn from these amazing humans that walk through our doors. What is the true purpose of our job? Are we simply imparters of knowledge to empty vessels? I think of the three little vessels asleep in the rooms next to mine. I am certain that they are not empty. They have so much to share. Do we ever take the time to check in? So this afternoon I peered into the beautiful clear water of Second Beach. I marveled at the tiny baby sand crab that Luis found. I shrieked when a seagull stole a peanut butter sandwich right out of Besty's hands. We talked about being teachers, and what are the most important things we hope our students walk out of the door knowing. It was a fuller kind of last minute prep... the kind of last minute prep where I remember that I am human. Tonight, instead of last minute prepping I ate s'mores with my community group and met an amazing woman who was born in Argentina. I learned that I was wrong when I told my students that 'vos' is a shortened form of vosotros. Students, do you know sometimes we teachers make things up, because we realize that you have us beat and we don't want to look like we don't know anything? It turns out we have LOTS to learn!! 'Vos' is actual a very casual form of 'you'... More casual than 'tu'. Wow! I had no idea it existed! I love that I discovered something brand new tonight, not because I was poring over second language acquisition theory and Pinterest inspiration, but because I went out to eat a s'more.
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AuthorShannon Norquist, teacher of Spanish and Dance at Barrington Christian Academy, mother of 3 lovelies, wife to an artist, modern dancer, daughter to the King. Archives
September 2016
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