Little Joys of Teaching

But I didn't tell you the best part about today . . .

I gave my students the end-of-semester evaluations, and thanked them for a lovely semester, and there was that awkward moment of my collecting my things to leave the room. And what did they do? . . . They applauded. :)

About the image above: My mother has been a wonderful elementary school teacher since I was in grade school. Although the level of writing and analysis of our students is obviously different, sometimes I think there isn't actually much difference between our work as educators! Mom has always brought home lots of gifts from her students at the end of every school year, and a Sandra Boynton mug with this picture is one I have drunk coffee out of many times in her kitchen. :) It seems apt for my circumstances now, although to update it for the modern classroom, we'd need to put a cell phone in the paws of the dancing ADHD kitten on the desk, and an iPod earbud in the turkey's ear and a laptop with YouTube showing the latest viral videos on the desktop in front of the lamb.

another snowfall . . .

But all we can confess of what we are
Has in it the defeat of isolation--
If not our own, then someone's, anyway.
-- Adrienne Rich, Stepping Backward

I am overwhelmed sometimes by the beauty of the world around me.

And there are days, like today, when I am reminded of the meaning and purpose of my presence here. And these times, I feel so very much gratitude for everything and everyone that has contributed to my being right here, right now, in this moment, in this space. Even this landscape that I discover anew each day, so brand new to me, is one I see with lenses thick with memories, and everyone I have ever known is somehow here with me in this vision of the world, even as I experience isolation . . .