Year 26 for This Fool (27 If You Count the Louisville Nature Center) and I Still Can Attest, I've Been in Schools Since Kindergarten. This Is My 45th Year

I never sleep well the night before a new year kicks off, and I do hold fall semesters as the "new year," because that is what teachers are trained for. I also made a promise that I'd always be aligned with K-12 schools and in as many buildings as possible so that higher education doesn't rub off on me too much (it is amazing the number of individuals in education who teach teachers, but never step inside or involve themselves with the operations of our public schools. It's always made me wonder their claims to authority and expertise --- achievements in higher educations are not the workings of life in every day schools). 

I'll take the expertise of youth first, followed by parents and teachers. I'll check their brilliance against the scholarship I read and participate with, then figure out a way to counter and withstand administrative tsunamis that arrive with thick bureaucracies, hypocrisy, and what I simply see as silliness. But it's not funny -- it's actually sick.

But we do what is best for developing readers and writers, and some of us are fortunate to have National Writing Project training for developing all children. We need to lock arms against the armies of Orcs and Deatheaters that fly at us from the Ministry of Magic. 

The way I see it, I have at least another 15 years to go. If I stayed in Kentucky, I could retire like many of my colleagues who were with me at the University of Louisville in 1996. I set the clock way back, however, because I opted out of the K-12 shenanigans for a Ph.D. -- little did I know that the bureaucracy is piled way higher and much deeper in higher education. It had to be learned.

I have a course tonight to teach, another tomorrow, several meetings (including those pesky grants), and a special appearance in a doctoral seminar at Kennesaw State University (can't wait). This morning, I finish prepping classes, tuning syllabi, and arranging projects, hoping my body won't get too disgruntled for having to wear pants again. I've been in shorts all summer (as CWP work is on the ground, active, and energized in a way the stuffy school year is not)(I just do what I do with a little more formality about me).

I am heading in today with zest for the power of teaching, joy for young adult literature, and nothing but appreciation for the K-12 educators that work across the nation. On Friday, I get to join a school's faculty to help plan a year of professional development and I can't wait to hear what's on the minds of educators this year.

I still think teaching is a calling, and I'm glad I was called (doomed! Doomed, I tell ya!). 

Here's to 2022-2023. WE GOT THIS!!!!