I like to start every year with the same comic. It’s a classic Calvin and Hobbes cartoon that sums up perfectly the life of so many people.
Every year I revisit this comic, and I feel like I see something new in it. Whether it’s a student who got lost last year in the back of my class. Or a student who finally “kazamed” his way out of his shell.
The bottom line is this: We all have Calvins in our class.
Probably a lot of them.
And if you’re anything like me, you spend too much time looking like a bug-monster to those kids.
In the past, I was probably OK with that. I didn’t like it. But for the sake of “classroom management,” test scores and evaluations, I made the sacrifice.
Because that’s why I got into teaching, right?
Classroom management, test scores and evaluations.
Yeah, right.
One of my primary goals this year is to create a classroom that looks like the world my students want to see.
Stars and moons and comets? Maybe not.
But creativity and ingenuity and excitement, sure.
Life and wonder, definitely.
Because I was that Calvin. Full of imagination.
And, let’s face it, if there’s one thing this world needs more of, it’s life and wonder.