My name is Emmet and I’m an eduholic.
The last time I woke up in the middle of the night to write about education , I was in the throes of scaling Mount Nbpts. Now I’m out of thin air, it’s the weekend before the last day of the school year... and I’m at it again.
I thought once the portfolio was signed, sealed and delivered these middle of the night sessions would be over, but I can see now that I was deceiving myself. If it’s not National Board that’s got me spinning, it’s that kid from second period, or ideas for an upcoming lesson. Or rehearsing the first few lines of a blog post. Can you hear a cast iron skillet clanging violently against my keyboard? That’s my brain on education.
Fortunately, I’m not alone. Seems there are a lot of people out there just like me. The kind folks at Teacher online have agreed to let me talk it out here, in this new blog. Even better, anybody who wants to can come on in and join the conversation. Half the fun last time was hearing what teachers from around the country had to say. A giant teacher’s lounge, sort of, except without the nattering nabobs.
So, from here on in I’ll be writing each week about my teaching life, and I invite you to share yours. Let’s face it, even with all those students, it gets awful lonely in front of the classroom sometimes. Especially if you keep your door shut, which can be a temptation in a job like ours.
Now, I know I’m launching this at a weird time. After all, it’s summer, and a lot of us are preparing to forget about school for a week or ten. Blurry screen like heat rays off the pavement, dissolve to man before the ocean, digging toes into the sand, reaching for a sweating Corona beside his beach chair...
Must. Come. Back. It’s the little things I can’t let go of (mortgage, food). So, rather than quit cold turkey, I’m downshifting. This summer, instead of a full-time day gig and night school, my normal load, I plan on only teaching a couple college courses.
Besides offering a change of pace from the work I do with rocket scientists-in-training during the regular school year at a high tech magnet school, Voices from the Classroom and good old freshman comp at the community college will give me something to write about.
So stay tuned to hear about how teacher-researchers and other educators develop professional writing for publication. Lend an ear while I coax adult learners to write research papers. And jump in any time with nuggets of wisdom, questions, or feedback.
Because, let’s face it: if you weren’t into that sort of stuff, you wouldn’t be here. Reading this blog, or in this job. And that’s okay. The first step, after all, is admitting you have a problem.