March 24, 2006
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The Daily News
1 Quite a stretch in here.
2 The beautiful thing about teaching is the days off.
3 I mean that as not an indictment of education, but as an actual reality.
4 For all I complain about it, it still has only 182 working days. I thought it was 179, but Michelon corrected me.
5 What other job on this planet has so few working days?
6 For what it's worth, I tellya.
7 When I talk with alumni who are trying to figure out what to do with themselves, I inevitably mention teaching, which is amazing, because I complain about it so much.
8 But I continually find myself saying, "If I had it to do all over again, I'd STILL choose teaching!"
9 And it isn't always the time you get off, which is remarkable. It's the whole package.
10 Yesterday, I went through the very underrated Queen Mab speech from Romeo and Juliet. Almost every class quieted down when I read that passaga aloud.
11 As teachers, we've all pushed students past their own limitations, and we've all seen students who didn't think they could go another step suddenly turn around a triumph beyond any of their wildest dreams.
12 Mercutio's speech, however, is designed to keep people from being fools at the hands of dreams. He delivers it to Romeo, his good friend, who is hopelessly in love with Rosaline, and Mercutio's speech is designed to cure Romeo of his love addiction.
13 At the end of the speech, Mercutio gets more intense, so much so that Romeo interrupts with the words, "Peace, peace, Mercution, peace!
Thou talks of nothing."
Mercutio. True, I talk of dreams;
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy;
Which is as thin of substanc as the air,
And more inconstant than the wind, who woos
Even now the frozen bosom of the North
And, being angered, puffs away from thence,
Turning his face to the dew-dropping South.
14 Good stuff. Amazing stuff.
15 My freshmen appeared riveted by it yesterday.
16 And a true teacher can sense those sorts of things.
17 A happy birthday goes out there to Jenny.
18 And also, Jackie from the play.
19 And to Dave, this Sunday.
20 And to all of you, enjoy a great weekend!
21 Brush up your Shakespeare.
22 And if you're indecisive about a career, give teaching a chance.
23 Tonight it all seems somehow worth it.
24 Peace.
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