Curriculum Matters

Ahhhhhh.....basking in the glory of a day learning and helping others learn. Is there anything better? After 3 presentations at the Appleseed Writing Project's 2nd annual conference, I'm exhausted, yet exhilarated. As I reflect on the day, and my eyelids begin to droop, I can sleep soundly knowing that my dichotomies have afforded me this peace.

As I was driving home from work a couple of weeks ago, I was reflecting (as I often do during my 50 minute drive) on the sheer opposite I married into. I don't mean that Bill and I are total opposites (although an engineer's thinking is very different than a teacher's thinking.) I mean, I am currently working in an urban district with a diverse population and I drive home to a milk-toast, country living down a .6 mile gravel road across a "rickety" (yes, there's a story there) bridge to a couple of acres and a cat named Scooty (who is presently meowing outside).

Some of the folks in this neck don't make it to the "big city" often enough and might not know what to think about the stories I have to tell...so I don't tell them though I'm seeping at the seams.

This is not the only dichotomy. Today after being "professional" all day, then having a great dinner with my hubby and my parents, I went to a house that Bill and I have been working on and helped him with some plumbing. We left there at 10:30, after testing everything, draining it, and being unable to clean the "flux" out from under my fingernails.

Why do these dichotomies really exist? What am I supposed to be learning? Or do I just need the polar opposites to keep myself somewhere in middle? I'm not sure what the answer to these questions is, but I do know that it's 12:26, Scooty's still meowing 'cause he wants some love, and my tea is now luke-warm in front of me...

I'll ponder the meaning of it all when I'm more coherent.