Here it is, the end of Wednesday, and I've not had time for my usual post. I blame the above stack of papers. Everyone says the worst part of teaching is the grading, and they're right. I've definitely gotten faster, but I've nowhere near mastered "speed grading."
Incidentally, except for grading, I do feel that the classroom is where I was meant to be. I come alive in the classroom in a way people who know me from other arenas might find surprising. I love working with students.
And that's the way teaching should be, right? If you don't enjoy your subject matter and your students, why be a teacher? (Students can tell when you don't want to be there, after all.)
But teaching (and mounds of grading) isn't all I want. I wouldn't have created this website, otherwise. And that makes me contemplate this quote from George Addair:
Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.
Hmm.
Or, subsequently, these thoughts from Nelson Mandela:
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it . . . May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.”
. . .
Hmm, indeed.
(More on this later. I hope you're all having a great week!)
Great to see you back in action on the website!
-- Subh
Hi Jessica,
Thanks for sharing those inspirational quotations and also your passion for teaching. It's evident in the way you write. I'm also grateful, that you don't take to grading with relish. I worry, that those who do, often do it with a red pen in hand and a desire to express themselves in their feedback rather than help their students.
I hope you get through it all and can relax and find peace.