RUNAWAY TRUCK AHEAD – Dad Gone Wild

RUNAWAY TRUCK AHEAD – Dad Gone Wild

RUNAWAY TRUCK AHEAD

“The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.”
― Winston S. Churchill

“A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, The one I feed the most.”
― George Bernard Shaw

This week marks my 13th opening of school week as the spouse of a classroom teacher. It marks my 7th as an author of a weekly education blog. It marks my 7th as a parent of school-age children. This week I find myself wrestling with a plethora of challenging issues. Like many involved in the public education world – parents, teachers, principals, administrators – I’m struggling to process it all.

I started this blog 7 years ago after watching the struggles my wife went through in order to pursue a passion that called to her. I watched her first several years unfold, filled with a sense of pride and amazement. Being a classroom teacher is hard work. That seems like an understatement, but there is no way to adequately describe the sweat, tears, and elbow grease that goes into educating children. It’s never a 40 hour week, and it’s a job that’s never completed. There is never enough time – never enough resources.

I’ve seen the tears of frustration shed late at night while trying to pull together the final strings of a PBL project that nobody wanted to undertake but has now fully engaged a classroom of 5th graders. I’ve seen the tears of tragedy when a former student, one filled with so much promise meets an untimely end due to the constraints imposed on them by an uncompromising society. I’ve seen the tears of joy after running into and being excitedly greeted by a former student who is now working at Kroger and putting themselves through college – an affirmation that past lessons had taken root. It case you haven’t caught on by now, there are a lot of tears involved in being a teacher.

The first week of school, by my observation, has always been difficult. New students to meet. New policies to implement. New colleagues to integrate with. In the early years of her career, the school year would end and the planning for next year would begin. The first week of June was a time to meet with teammates and map out the coming year while the successes and failures of the CONTINUE READING: RUNAWAY TRUCK AHEAD – Dad Gone Wild