In the waning hours of my 40th birthday I am compelled to add a few words. I am not in search of congratulations or affections. It is a milestone that each will likely visit in their lives and I found myself–probably like many do–considering what I should do to commemorate my “accomplishment” of breathing for 14,600 consecutive days.
Lordy, Lordy, Look Who’s Forty
Tattoos–Diets–Exercising of Inalienable rights
How will I mark this occasion? What will change when I wake tomorrow? What will be different? And…why do I write about this?
The final question is my concern and it is framed in educational practice.
Folks, if I have ever had a mantra this may be it. Please do not turn everyday occurrences and typical occasions into reasons for myth, mystique, and superstition. There is no need to spend a day celebrating bad habits because they will change tomorrow–we do not require Fat Tuesday before we execute a cease and desist on poor practice.
Every day, every course, every class is an opportunity to change our practice. It is an opportunity to adapt and to create. There is no event that need be burdened with the decision to master content or to better prepare for the type of course our students deserve.
I would like to think that a change that I make tomorrow will not shock or amaze. I hope that no person says “it’s about time” in regard to something I may adapt next week. Growth tomorrow, I hope, will not be seen as THE DAY I changed but as another change that happened as they often do.
I write this as an encouragement, confession, and challenge. I have not arrived. We have not arrived. The best change we can make is the next one. Let us make them together and encourage one another to be critical of our practice, hopeful of our influence, creative in our approaches, and gracious in our interactions. There is so much to learn.