I just think that unless someone has really been in a school where all cultures are not only accepted but embraced, the school will be missing out on one of the greatest resources it has, which is to say its own pride.
2 Once in a while, the past comes right back to grab your heart.
3 It's a little bit funny, but every now and again, even when I'm enjoying life to the absolute fullest, I take a gander at how I got where I am, and give a bit of a smile.
4 Paul Simon had this line in his classic song The Boxer:
No it isn't strange after changes upon changes we are more
or less the same, after changes we are more or less the same.
5 I'm not so sure that there are very many lyrics that nail it more than those.
6 It isn't simply relevant to any recent departures, nor any lovely memories of brighter days; it's actually a testament to WHO we are as opposed to where we've been.
7 In my entire career as a teacher I don't know that right now isn't the best year I've ever enjoyed. Pretty bold, and yet, I am personally enjoying every single day, and looking forward to how I can take the same energies I always put into teaching, and placing them directly back into the classroom.
8 Granted, I miss directing. I watched the amazing Shakespeare in Love yesterday, and loved the scene where the guy with the incurable stutter steps onto the stage of the Curtain Theatre and walks toward the audience to deliver the Prologue to Romeo and Juliet.
9 He studies, thinks twice about his abilities, almost quits, re-groups, and then delivers the opening lines to arguablythe greatest play in human history.
10 For the first time in my teaching career, I showed that film to my students, who applauded at the end of the scene that shows the imaginary first ever performance of Romeo and Juliet.
11 Nobody thought anything about anything except that one moment in my classroom.
12 Their applause was a slow-clap, as beautiful a response as any I've ever experienced.
13 But my post about YB came right out of my soul, and I realized last night how much my years at YB meant to me.
14 Maybe it's because I am now safely removed from YB, or that I just haven't given it much thought, but it all caught me yesterday, as I'm quite sure it has caught many who have either left, or maybe retired, or for whatever reason are no longer a part of some of those incredible days at good ol' YB.
15 Anyway, I thought I should share that post.
16 Most everybody who gets the DN has been a part of that glorious and hilarious history, and I think somewhere in there was a bit of a doffed cap to you as well.
17 I'm proud to say that YB was a large part of my life, and of my memories as a teacher.
18 Best to bow out right now, but before I do, I simply want to throw this out there to everyone who ever made a difference in my life as a teacher: Thank you.
19 I will always feel that it was never really about teaching, it was about sharing, and enjoying some great people along the way.
20 It may all sound corny, or overly sentimental, but that's right from the soul.
21 Thank you for all the enormous laughs and times. We enjoy a mutual history that is one of loves, laughs, and life. I appreciate it all, and will forever.
22 To YB.
23 Peace.
~H~
Recent Comments