Inktober officially ended last week, but I’m still wrapping up the last few drawings. I’m also trying to get grades in and work on IEP‘s for students as courses for my masters get ready to start. Every once in a while I feel exhausted,but most of the time this new life of feels like the ultimate renewable resource.
I’ve been thinking about that since a few days ago when a friend wrote on his blog he thought of me as The Student (I’d been in his writing classes for many years). It was a wonderful post, but I also laughed a little because I used to cringe a little when I thought of myself becoming an “eternal“ student. I know it’s the label people assign to someone who just can’t find a major or is constantly going into a new class. It’s meant to make someone sound aimless, but, the other day, I liked that all-meant label.
I spent most of the last decade in a job that I liked but it was not fulfilling. It was challenging but not stimulating. Now, as a special education teacher, I feel like every synapse is firing every waking minute of the day. There are immediate classroom concerns to consider. There are lessons to be planned. There’s new material to read to be ready for the lessons. There’s new material to read to become a better teacher. There’s new research to be done to find a better tool. In other words, it is to be a student for life – to have every synapse firing every blessed moment of the day.
That doesn’t make me feel aimless or embarrassed. It makes my head tingle.