The Off Season, Part 1

The Off Season is that all too short time when I am neither teaching nor preparing nor recovering from the present, future, or present class(es).   

While I do a lot of thinking and reflecting during the off season, I also manage to concoct at least one dream for the future of my teaching career.   The dream will have little to do with reality but will nevertheless contribute to an ever-growing fantasy in my inner world where teaching goes well every single day of the term and students are both grateful and enlightened by the teaching experience I create for them.  It's a world where I can reach all students and all students know my heart and learn from my words.  When the season of teaching begins again, I will be immediately and  humbly reminded that my fantasy world is indeed far distanced from the reality of teaching.  

My fantasy world is a place where…  for the outstanding students, I can offer  something via the privilege of teaching them that they could not have learned or received on their own.  The offering may be simply the right affirmation of their abilities offered at the right time.  It may be the smallest of insights that allow them in their self-driven study to round out and perfect an understanding of the most complex concept.   It may be a small piece of global reality that prompts them to apply their dedication and smarts to make the world a better place.

My fantasy world is also a place where… for the worst performing students, I can offer insight into their abilities that makes them no longer worst, but talented in a unique way which traditional classes do not exploit.  I can have at least one moment with each of these students where I can figure out how they think, understand where the thought process has gone awry, and redirect it to the light bulb waiting at the end of the problem solving tunnel.

My fantasy world is also a place where… for the average students, I can know who they are well beyond a score near the mean on the most recent test.   For these students, I can see, understand, and feed back what makes each student special and offer unique encouragement through that insight.

My fantasy world is a place where all students feel valued, where all feel capable of learning, and where each knows something about who they are that makes them a unique contributor in this massive, complicated world but also a humble servant to the global problems that go along with the complexity. In my inner world, students can learn from me and I from them.  

Just as important as what I do and what I say, my fantasy world is also a place where I pray for all my students every week, with a heart that does not resent or reject their behavior, but simply seeks to grow beyond it.   

Of course, my fantasy world is a place where I have time to do all these things and more.    And this would be the #1 reason why it remains just that… a fantasy world!