school before friends

that last month of school was nuts, huh?  i wish there was some way to tell you how crazy it got...damn.

i hate being normal.  normal people start a blog and slowly fade away.  although my obli-blog-ations are over, i want to finish what i started.

here's the deal: there will be a post AT LEAST twice a week — Wednesday and Saturday — throughout the second semester.  every week, without fail.  they will be shorter than last semester, and more focused on my actual teaching experience.  also, i want to work in more visual appeal.  i can't exactly take and post pictures of my kids, but i'll figure something out.

"the unexamined life is not worth living."  Socrates said that, and i believe it.  i'm good at examining and making adjustments, when i find time.  i'm bad at finding time.  it's directly connected to my tendency to (purposely?) overload my schedule.  perhaps the purpose is to avoid thinking.  point being, once i had time to reflect over Christmas break, i found about a billion ways that i could become a better teacher.  which led me to this conclusion.

for the first time in my life as a rational self-interested human being, i'm purposely and intentionally choosing to put "school (work) before friends".  it sounds more dramatic than it really is, because it's not going to be an enormous change.  it is a shift, though.  shift happens.

the biggest news on my mind right now is the recent announcement that Great Hearts is expanding.  they are chartering schools in Nashville, and possibly somewhere in the Midwest.  watch the news clip here.  i can't convey how huge this information is to me.  first, it confirms my belief that i am where God wants me (and "us") to be, and that i'm a part of something bigger.  second, it means that classical liberal arts charter schools can be a successful business model.  what i consider to be "the answer" to the education problem in America is not just an idealistic answer, but a practical answer.  hope.  change.  ...i hate politics.