We’re into the first "real" day of Winter Break (real, in that it’s not the weekend) and it’s amazing how — with a few days off — I can feel the muscles in my back and shoulders start to actually give. I spent yesterday watching the Eagles game with SLA teacher Matt Baird, and we both talked about how liberating it was to be able to watch a football game on a Sunday afternoon without the specter of Monday morning hanging over us.

This isn’t news to any teacher reading this, as I’m sure there are a great number of folks reading this over the break, staring at the pile of papers that they brought home thinking, "I’ll start that tomorrow…" and knowing that the few days of peace have to be enough to saddle up for the coming winter months which can, well, drag a bit. (I never realized how wonderful the February Winter Break that NYC gets was until I didn’t get it anymore.)

One of the hard things about the teaching life… and the administrative life… is learning how to manage the ups and downs of the life of school. I think that remains the part of teaching that is so hard to explain. How do you explain to folks what it means to have a class that just hums along, where you can feel kids pushing things forward? How can you explain what it does to you when a student comes to you with a problem that you can’t solve? When the best you can do is commiserate with them, knowing how hard the road they have in front of them is?

At SLA, we talk a lot about teaching with the ethic of care… about making sure that we care more about the kids in front of us even more than we do about the subjects we teach. But sometimes that means that the emotional toll can be tough to take… and that’s not even considering what it means to start a school. The last week of school, folks were dragging — and this was coming off of a month where many of us worked two of three weekends in a row — and it was time for a break. And the thing is, while our version of the story may be unique to us, there are teachers all over the world with similar stories this time of year.

So as we all enjoy a break from the day-to-day of school life, my wish for everyone is a healthy, wonderful, restful winter break, filled with friends and family and much needed sleep. If you have time to write that blog entry or two that you’ve been meaning to write, great… if not, that’s o.k. too. We’ve all earned it.

Whether it’s on people’s blog entries or in reading people’s twitter updates, one thing is clear — the new school year is just about upon us.

So as we here at SLA gear up with our Summer Institute, and we remember that as much as this is about discussions of pedgagogy, technology, innovation and theory, what’s it really about is spending our lives with these amazing young people and helping them navigate their way through childhood to a powerful, productive and meaningful life.

To all the wonderful people in my learning network — thank you in advance for another year of challenging and clarifying what I believe and think, and I wish you a wonderful start of school and a meaningful, transformative and fun year. And may we all remember this thought on the hard days:

We’re the lucky ones. We teach.

Dean tagged me so here I go…

First, the Rules:

1. Post these rules before you give your facts
2. List 8 random facts about yourself
3. At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them
4. Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged

My Eight

1. "Believe" by Cher is a "Secret Shame" song that I do a) love b) dance to when I hear it.
2. I often refer to myself as an "iconoclastic bastard," but I would rather build up than tear down.
3. Movies where sports are a metaphor for life such as Rudy, Rocky and Field of Dreams make me cry.
4. These days, my favorite thing to do is to take a nap with my son Theo. Nothing makes me happier.
5. I’ve been known to get a bit passionate about things I care about. I’m rather excitable.
6. As much as I am a social person, I need down time every day where I just climb in my own head and reflect.
7. My favorite time as a teacher was from 6:30 – 8:00 am every morning when I got to coach girls basketball (fall / winter) and Ultimate (fall / spring). I miss coaching every single day.
8. My least favorite job I ever had was as a gopher / stock-boy / garbage boy in a deli in HS.
9. I had a pony-tail in college. My hair got LONG.

And who I tag:

• Marcie Hull
• Matt Baird
• John Calvert
• Ewan McIntosh
• Darren Kuropatwa
• Clarence Fisher
• Konrad Glogowski
• Kim Moritz

And I’m with Dean… I’m going to break the comments rule.