I felt a lot of anxiety going back to school earlier this week. Each year, the nervousness and anticipation seem to be slightly different. Year 1 was terrifying; year 2 was better, but I worried over having several different courses to teach. This year, I have a much simpler teaching assignment and I was excited both to be working with 9th graders, whom I adore, and about some of the specific units and lessons I have been planning. Yet I just felt there were too many unknowns about the year for me to feel 100% invested in returning to the classroom. Between a new person in the department, a different curriculum team dynamic, new administrators, a new evaluation system, Common Core standards implementation, and year 2 of the 1-1 laptop program, it was all very overwhelming.
And then I stepped back in to the classroom.
Sure, there were some technical issues that needed to be addressed. But I felt, by the third class out of the 600 classes I will teach over the course of the year, that I was exactly where I was supposed to be: with kids, talking about literature, challenging them to dig deeper and push themselves out of their comfort zone. I felt extraordinarily gratified that the lessons I had thought about over and over again were working, or at least they seemed to be! Light bulbs were going on around the room and students seemed happy to be in my classroom. Another teacher describes her job at our school as "Camelot." I think I am starting to understand why she chooses that particular moniker.
I've spent this first fall weekend with a perfect balance of activity and calm. A very literary college friend of mine is visiting from out of town, and we spent Saturday doing some pretty nerdy and awesome things. First, I woke up early, so I went for a run in the cool of the morning. We then went over to Porter Square Books, where I treated myself to three new reads, all on sale. We'd planned to spend the day out in Concord visiting Orchard House, the home of Louisa May Alcott and her family, and walking around Walden Pond. The weather could not have been more perfect for us. Orchard House was wonderful; 80% of the objects and furniture in the house belonged to the Alcott family. My friend and I had a delicious lunch at a diner in Concord Center, and then we walked around Walden Pond. The only thing missing from the day was a trip to Emerson House, but that just gives me an excuse to go back to Concord again soon.
Both Orchard House and Walden Pond made me feel at peace. The love of the Alcott family members for one another was, remarkably, still palpable in their home over a century after they lived there. Although transcendentalism is not my favorite reading material, evidence of Henry David Thoreau's grand experiment in living deliberately stirred me to think about purpose in my own life. How could I not reflect proudly on my chosen life path on such a beautiful day, standing where 2 great thinkers once stood. I found myself thinking about this for the rest of the evening.
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| Plaque commemorating Thoreau's cabin |
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| Site of Thoreau's TEENY cabin |
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| View of Walden Pond from near the site of Thoreau's cabin |
As peaceful as Walden Pond made me feel yesterday, I was also looking forward to checking out the Cambridge Carnival today. This Caribbean-centric street fair in Kendall Square, near MIT, began with a parade outside Central Square in Cambridge. The energy of the dancers, the colors of their costumes and "floats"--really just larger costumes, probably very heavy, worn by brave group members--and their pride in their countries and cultures just made me feel ALIVE. On YouTube, you can watch a very poor quality video that I took, just to get an idea of the scene. Suffice it to say, it was loud and colorful!
The juxtaposition of these feelings and emotions mimics how I feel about going back to school tomorrow for day 3. I'm not at all dreading the morning wake-up because my place IS in the classroom and I feel as comfortable there as I felt sitting on a rock beside Walden Pond yesterday afternoon. At the same time, my enthusiasm for working with my students is like the energy of the Caribbean dancers I saw at the international festival today. I'm just EXCITED to see them tomorrow, and to be working with them this year! I hope that other teachers have been as happy about the start of the school year as I've been. Welcome back, everyone!
