Holding Back the Tide

This is what teaching often feels like.  The tide can represent anything that wears away at effective teaching and learning - the days before a holiday, the days following a holiday, weather changes, full moons, family violence, drug or alcohol abuse, exposure to inappropriate media, malnutrition and hunger, sleep deprivation, death, abusive language, emotional abuse, neglect, illness, even the seeming innocuous time-wasters such as announcements over the p.a. system, visitors, assemblies, schedule changes, fire drills, and technical difficulties.  Then there are also student behaviors and attitudes, teacher behaviors and attitudes, teacher and student burnout, too much or too little sugar or caffeine, hormones, mean people (sometimes including myself), talkative people (often including myself), agendas, stress, lack of supplies, lack of storage, lack of heat or air conditioning,  or too much heat or air conditioning.  But there are moments, sometimes hours, each day, each week,  when distractions are held at bay, and learning forms in tidal pools, full of interesting tidbits of knowledge and activity, with students delightfully peering in and being changed by what they find there.  In these moments, teaching feels like toes in warm sand, sun on your face, a warm sea breeze, and life all around.