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What keeps you waking up each morning?
No, I don't mean your neighbor's barking dog. No, not the garbage trucks that greet you with their noisy yawns at 6:00 a.m.
I mean...what keeps life interesting? It's the surprises, right? Normally, I don't like surprises (secretly, I love them). Most of the time, I like knowing what's going to happen but not knowing can be fun too (as long as the suspense doesn't last too long).
Who knows why people change? One minute, they seem to be saying one thing. The next minute, they're dead silent. It's the silence, that space when you don't know what will be said or what will happen next that can drive us nuts.
I don't know. My mind is all over the place tonight. I drove to Los Angeles Harbor College to visit the summer session ENG 028 class taught by my mentor, Allison Boyce. Allison is so giving of her time. She teaches with such grace and ease. There's only 2 weeks left in the summer session and tonight, Allison asked me to lead the discussion next week on Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Old Man and the Sea.
Of course, I leapt at the opportunity. I love Hemingway's precise prose. My enthusiasm will certainly show and I've got a week to prepare. I could tell from tonight's discussion that most of the students don't actually enjoy reading fiction. Allison tried to talk about Mark Twain's fiction and only 1 student seemed interested in discussion. Quite a few students admitted that they didn't read the text.
My challenge is clear to me. I must get students excited about reading. I've got some time to re-read Hemingway and come up with some fun activity/discussion topics for next Wednesday. In the meantime, I left the classroom smiling because I'm learning to appreciate how unpredictable life can be. Not only did Allison's proposal surprise me today but I got a call from another community college who wants to interview me next Tuesday for a teaching position (that was actually the first surprise of the day since I got that call at 11:30 a.m.)
My point in this long ramble--life is unpredictable. One day, nothing moves. The next day, things slowly start to change. It's what we do with our time in between that really matters. In other words--stay optimistic! Life always has a way of surprising you.
No, I don't mean your neighbor's barking dog. No, not the garbage trucks that greet you with their noisy yawns at 6:00 a.m.
I mean...what keeps life interesting? It's the surprises, right? Normally, I don't like surprises (secretly, I love them). Most of the time, I like knowing what's going to happen but not knowing can be fun too (as long as the suspense doesn't last too long).
Who knows why people change? One minute, they seem to be saying one thing. The next minute, they're dead silent. It's the silence, that space when you don't know what will be said or what will happen next that can drive us nuts.
I don't know. My mind is all over the place tonight. I drove to Los Angeles Harbor College to visit the summer session ENG 028 class taught by my mentor, Allison Boyce. Allison is so giving of her time. She teaches with such grace and ease. There's only 2 weeks left in the summer session and tonight, Allison asked me to lead the discussion next week on Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Old Man and the Sea.
Of course, I leapt at the opportunity. I love Hemingway's precise prose. My enthusiasm will certainly show and I've got a week to prepare. I could tell from tonight's discussion that most of the students don't actually enjoy reading fiction. Allison tried to talk about Mark Twain's fiction and only 1 student seemed interested in discussion. Quite a few students admitted that they didn't read the text.
My challenge is clear to me. I must get students excited about reading. I've got some time to re-read Hemingway and come up with some fun activity/discussion topics for next Wednesday. In the meantime, I left the classroom smiling because I'm learning to appreciate how unpredictable life can be. Not only did Allison's proposal surprise me today but I got a call from another community college who wants to interview me next Tuesday for a teaching position (that was actually the first surprise of the day since I got that call at 11:30 a.m.)
My point in this long ramble--life is unpredictable. One day, nothing moves. The next day, things slowly start to change. It's what we do with our time in between that really matters. In other words--stay optimistic! Life always has a way of surprising you.
