What’s My Name?

At my elementary school, there were these huge trees with deep scoops in the trunks, and great gaps between the roots. We would build little lean-tos with twigs and leaves, and called these fairy houses. Carl Jung used to futz around with blocks, building a castle, and then a real dwelling for himself, echoing the […]

Dumb

When school ends, people often ask how I’m doing, and I say, “Well, I’m not feeling like myself quite yet.” I mean, I need a little more time away from the intensity and responsibility of teaching. It’s been four days since school ended. Just today I sweated through the classroom cleanup and whisked my plants […]

Last

What protects you, at the end of the school year, is that you are so tired. My first few years, I was frustrated by how dead and hollow I felt. I wanted to feel sad to lose that group of kids, but they were like ghosts to me in the last weeks of school. Or […]

Alarms

This year, at the senior banquet, I got the first shout-out. I don’t like being the center of attention, so I was both pleased and embarrassed. What does the graduating senior say of me, after two years in my class? “I remember Ms Schurman always used to say, ‘Wake up!” The purpose of education is, […]