Looking ahead

I’ve written recently of leaving my current employer, which won’t happen until August, but which emotionally has already begun taking place; I’ve also mentioned I intend to go into education, as serious and important profession as any of which I can think.

I haven’t said enough about what I think of education. The truth is, I’m a little afraid. I’m confident that I have the knowledge, but I worry about imparting it effectively. I want to be a good teacher; a teacher who makes students better after they leave his classroom. I want students to leave my class and be better people — and not just because they’ve gained some knowledge — but because they’ve learned something about themselves.

Last night, as I sat in a McDonald’s restaurant after covering a school board meeting, but prior to returning to the newsroom to write my story, I imagined how I would start off my first lesson on my first day of school. That seems to me to be a big day — the jumping off point.

It is my plan to be very honest with my students. I’ll declare my intentions on that day. “In this class, you’re going to learn something.”

“Grades will not play a central role in my classroom, rather learning will, and you will come out of my classroom knowing something about the English language, and hopefully yourself.”

I plan to explain to them: “Most of the problems people encounter in life come about because they don’t understand themselves or they don’t understand the world. If you can communicate effectively, you can go a long way toward improving yourself in both instances.”

“This may seem like a bullshit class to you, first period or whatever, and it can be that — but it doesn’t have to be. This is the class that unlocks some of the greatest minds (writers) in the history of the world, if you don’t consider yourself too important for their time or their craft.”

“Now take out a piece of paper and write 200 words explaining why something (a noun) interests you.”