First Steps - November 17th, 2006

In all my years of teaching the most frequent lament I hear from students is, "I don't know how to start!" Here I find myself in the same situation. And so I'm following my own advice: I'm just diving in... An interesting week...I had to teach my English classes in the Media Center because my ceiling collapsed after a weekend rain. This wasn't really news to anyone as the ceiling's been leaking since the building was constructed 10 years ago. The origin of the leak has been elusive so every time it rained I had been teaching around strategically placed trash cans until a couple of months ago when it got really bad and I had to vacate the classroom after every rain, put my 'stuff' on a floater's cart (this is a cart used by teachers who do not have one classroom, but travel to several during a school day - ('floater' is a euphemism if there ever was one))- and take my show 'on the road.' Teaching in an open space, particularly when the space is on the second floor of a three-floor, open atrium, is a lot like herding cats. I've been working on my patience, taking vitamins, and considering taking a nap on my cart so I have enough strength to get to my car. I'm very glad the weekend is here even though I'm up to my schnutz in essays! At least it's quiet.