It's been exactly two years since I wrote "skool," the second post on this blog. I haven't had the time or energy to add anything to this page in the last year and a half, but I've been reinspired by the superhuman efforts of my friend Paul, an American opera singer married to a Norwegian flautist. Their daughter was born on my birthday in 2004, when I was living in Oslo, and just three days ago, their first son was born - on my dad's 62nd birthday. Through it all, Paul has been able to blog almost daily about all the details of his life, a feat I admire and appreciate.
The truth is, though, that I haven't been totally absent from the blogosphere - last summer I led an amazing trip for thirteen of my students to Morelia, Michoacan, and we recorded our experiences on the MexEx2006 blog and in the videos they created. Hmmm...maybe Nobu can help me figure out how to get the videos onto youtube, and then we can link them to the blog...
How ironic that I aspire to live as Thoreauvian a life as possible, yet with a few clicks I can utilize of the wonders of technology to disseminate my thoughts to the world. Well, I am finishing up my Master's degree, after all, and it is 2007, not 1847, so I guess I can reconcile any disagreements Old Henry might have had with computers and bloggers.
Speaking of that degree, that's why I haven't been able to write at leisure; all my writing of the past two years has been for school - either Berkeley High or George Mason. I'm not sure when I'll write my book about the travesties and joys of public education in America (maybe this is it) but I'd like to strive for consistency from here on out. I'm supposed to be be writing a research paper right now, but this is more fun.
As reflect on the "skool" post of March 23, 2005, I'm struck by the fact that good listening remains the cornerstone of my teaching and my classroom discussions. I could write pages about each and every day and each conversation and interaction that that has transpired between then and now, but happily, for all I've grown and been challenged by my students and the reality of their lives, I'm still me. Just today I had a similarly intense discussion as that first one two years ago, but this time with a different set of students. Granted, I know these students on a much more personal level (thanks to the idea of small schools - yeah CAS!) but the ultimate lesson for me is that to be an effective teacher, I simply need to be a caring human being with good listening skills.
I hope to write soon about our recent field trip to see Fernando Botero's Abu Ghraib paintings, and the awful irony of Congress passing an emergency war spending bill authorizing another 100 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. All I want to know is - where's the emergency public education bill?
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