Explained and assigned Nouns exercises A and B (p.8) for tomorrow.

Reminder: Study the Roots!!  (Quiz on words and roots next Tuesday, Sept.  25)

We did some practice writing today related to Ideas trait.  Practice generating ideas and including details.  Entry entitled “Why I don’t have my homework…”  (Hope I’m not giving them ideas…:)

As a quick aside in class, I showed them a blog entry from a projessional colleague who is in Shanghai, China right now with a number of other educators (some of whom I “know” through digital connections) for a technology/education conference.  Stuck back here in the states, I’ve been able to follow along with the conference and all the digital conversation related to it, thanks to all sorts of Web 2.0 technologies that available.  As a cool side effect of these connections, I have also been able to get an on-the-ground perspective of Typhoon Wipha that struck near Shanghai last night (?) and has stranded these colleagues.  Amazing to follow along in real-time what I would never have known about even just a few years ago.  Then, I might have caught a small headline in the paper; now, I’m getting photos and instant messages from the 31st floor of an apartment in Shanghai. 

Now, to stretch the students’ learning beyond the four classroom walls and help them make these kinds of connections….

Dad: Just remember, Zachary, even though you are helping and you know a lot of things, you still have a lot of things you need to learn, too.

Zachary: (distracted) Yeah.

Dad: You know, even I have things I don’t know. I’m still learning stuff, too.

Zachary: (surprised) You are?!?

Dad: Sure.

Zachary: But you’re the teacher!

Dad: You think that because I’m the teacher, I know everything?

Zachary: Yeah!

Dad: Nope, even I have teachers.

Zachary: Who are your teachers?

Dad: Well, I learn from a lot of people. I learn a lot from other teacher friends that I talk with on the internet. I also learn from things I read, and things I do. I even learn quite a bit from my own students.

Zachary: (long confused pause)

Dad: What do you think of that?

Zachary: Cool.

Yeah, cool.

I am nervous and excited about tomorrow. I don’t feel completely ready, but I never do–not after 13 years of teaching! Mostly, I just want to meet my new students. I know that, despite the awkwardness of the first couple of days, we will get to know each other quickly, get to work quickly, and feel very comfortable before long.

I think of the empty desks sitting in my dark classroom right now. Who are these young people who will fill them? What do they expect of me and the class? What do they expect of themselves? How can I make them understand that what I want, more than anything, is for them to grow as human beings during this coming year, to stretch themselves further than they have, to explore not only the world around them but the world inside their own hearts and minds?

And so another summer ends, but a journey takes its place.

Here we go…