Back To School With A Clean Slate

A pile of new school supplies sits in the corner of my living room waiting to be sorted into backpacks and taken to school tomorrow. New school shoes wait in shopping bags at the top of the stairs, and new clothes wait to be put on and worn for first day of school photos. New things represent the hope the new school year brings. We haven’t made any mistakes yet; our notebooks still carry only blank pages, and our pencils haven’t written any wrong words. This could be the year we meet that inspiring teacher who believes in us and changes our lives forever. This could be the year we discover we really love math or writing or physics. Two weeks from now we will know more about what the school year brings, but now we are full of hope.
My children are hopeful, and I have hope for their school year, but I have hope as a teacher too.  I peered into what will be my classroom this semester, and I counted the empty desks.  Right now I can only imagine who will fill them, but I hope the people who take my class come expecting to learn and expecting to try.  I hope my students will show up to class willing to build community with each other and with me. I hope they are willing to let what they learn challenge what they already believe. Most of all, I hope I become a better teacher and a better person from meeting these new students. In a few weeks reality may spoil my hopes, but for now they are fresh like new notebooks and new shoes.

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Posted by admin on Aug 19 2010. Filed under Beth Gulley. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry