Into the Present

I’ve been positively giddy since the beginning of this program to discuss the integration of technology into education, because I believe wholeheartedly that it is the future of our profession. Yet the thing about the future is, it’s just so easy to write about. The future is unbridled possibility, and my goodness what a great theme for a blog that is. So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that in the past week I’ve found myself avoiding writing about a very real and very present event, my first few days in school placement.

The reason? Well, frankly, teaching is scary.

No wait, that doesn’t quite cover it. Teaching is also messy, and seems at times surgically designed to publicly expose your insecurities. It’s mildly ludicrous, as it means being figuratively locked in a room with a potential group of gleefully hostile children. Teaching is grueling, like having the lead role in a play that runs eight hours a day five days a week. Oh, and you’re also the writer, director and usher to an audience clambering over themselves to escape to the bathroom.

And I’ve always known this, I’ve been in schools long before this year after all, but it’s so much more real now. No longer a volunteer, only briefly a teacher candidate, then: Shawn McCarty, Teacher.

It has a nice ring to it.

Teaching is scary, but It is also exactly what I wish to be doing with my life. Scary, but rewarding on a level I’ve never encountered. It’s fun, frequently hilarious, and constantly educational. My two days in placement taught me more about myself then the entire last year of my life, because I’m open to learning from these grade 8s. Though my associate teacher has much to teach me, those 8s are the ones I’ll be looking to for my best lessons, and they’re not disappointing me.

Back to school, and the future, tomorrow. Can’t wait.