The Joys of the Teaching Life

As we think about School 2.0, NCLB and everything else facing education today, sometimes it's important to remember the joy that comes with this job too.

I flew out to Ohio last night to go to Oberlin College to see the Senior Day game, the last home game of Jessie Oram's college career. Jessie played for me at Beacon for four years, and we spent four years catching a cab to practice every morning at 6:15. She made sure I was met at the airport by two other former students of mine who are also at Oberlin, so I got to catch up with their lives as well.

The game was amazing, and I just had an incredible time watching Jessie play. (And hey, getting to go out on the court with her at the beginning was pretty damned cool.) But it was just amazing to get to interact with her out on her turf and really see the way everyone around her just clearly loves being with her.

All of which is to speak to one of the wonderful benefits of the teaching life. After a while, the kids we teach become adults, and a few of them stay in your life. It can be a little tough sometimes to make that transition from teacher-student to former-teacher/friend-former-student/friend. But there's something amazing about being in someone's life for four years as a teacher and then to get to take joy in the adult they become.

I've said this before, and it's really the secret that makes teaching such an incredible life. There is so much written about how great schools are supposed to be transformative for the students, but there's little written about how having these kids in our lives can and should transform us as well.  And the wonderful thing is that it's not just when they are our students. After eleven years of teaching, my first kids are approaching 30 years old, they are parents and teachers and businesspeople -- adults. I've swapped parenting ideas with my former students, taught with them, and learned from them.

Congratulations, Jessie, on four years of college basketball, and congratulations to you for all that you are and all you will become. Thank you for always allowing me to come along for the ride.