Welcome back

 

I was eating lunch with a couple of friends I had not seen in a long time. After about 10 minutes of conversation, one of my friends asked me when I was going to retire. At my age, I get that question often, but I am never ready to respond.

This past year was one of my favorite years of teaching.  I had some students who struggled at the start of the year but kept coming for help. What impressed me most about these guys: Even when they did not show improvement in their grades, they continued to work hard. It is easy to be gritty when things are going well, but it truly shows your character when you keep working hard without immediate results.

On the other side of the ledger, it was awesome to see some of my strongest students work hard to explain complex problems to their classmates. What was great was that these student work groups helped everyone improve. At the end of the year, we ended up with one of the strongest groups of students in my teaching career.

This summer, I spent time talking with some of the best educators I know. When I left these conversations, I was excited to implement these ideas into my classroom this year. What I love about teaching is that you are on a continuous journey to improve.

With the above in mind, I have never been more excited to be a teacher. The start of each year brings on new challenges, new students, and a fresh start. It is great to wake up every morning and love going to work.

PS. This year's students are off to an amazing start.