It occurs to me, as I look around my classroom, that more and more of the students I see have too much on their plate. Between; homework, social lives, work, extra-curricular activities, family, community, cognitive development, civic expectations, and just plain growing-up these kids are taxed to the max.
In our high-speed/high-tech world is society pushing our future generation into their current problem...an inability to move forward because of too many choices in front of them?
I urge you to watch the video on 'The Paradox of Choice" from Barry Schwartz. I heard of this video through Jim Burke, our eMints/Smartboard technology teacher. It gave me pause to realize just how much we have to choose from in our lives and how much less time & responsibility we actually give to 'ourselves'...to grow & understand. Quite a catch 22.
It makes me want to simplify EVERYTHING in my life: going back to the horse & buggy, kill my television, throw away all of the things that take up time that I could be discovering myself and growing my sense of well-being.
Of course then I wouldn't be writing in this blog now would I...speaking of which ~good bye!
......for now = )
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6 comments:
Wow, this is deep. But I agree with you. It pains me to relate this to what I do, but English class pops into mind. Henry David Thoreau said it just right when he wrote, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, to discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and to be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion." Although I am adept at handling all the things I have to deal with, it wears on me, and sometimes it just seems easier to let it go. And the funny thing is, I haven't experienced life at its fullest yet, although it already seems packed with what's in it now, before adding a job, my own family, and the weight of the world outside of school. And with that in mind, I have homework to do, so tata for now, and by the way, this is fun!
wow....so deep.
And true
Hi Jen!!!!!!!!
Long time no see! Look at you!!
I checked out your website. YEE-HAHH!
I am very fuzzy on when I saw you last; I always knew thet you would be successful!!
I am continually surprized when I bump into former students and find that not only did they remember my class but that they have made music a career orhave kept music in their lives. I am still amazed that I was able to touch so many young lives in a positive manner.
I left TA in 95 after having a war with Stascio. I was on disability as the only teacher so far that was
out for stress related illnesses due to the fight with S.
I started my own music instrument repair business {DB Music} and worked at a music store, MidTown Music, for 8 years. I worked at Sears in Portsmouth and at the Maine Mall for over a year and I've been a driving instructor since March.
I started off as the low man on the totem pole but by Sept. I was considered the 2nd best teacher on the staff of 22.
I've has issues with my eyes lately with cateract and glaucoma surgery on both eyes. At the moment I can;t see to read so I've had to stop playing with the jazz group{Cool Shade Of Blue} and the concert band[The Alumni Band}that i play in/
I also am teaching at the University of New England teaching music and the Pep Band. Image me teaching at the college level! In a year and half they think I'm the best thing since sliced bagels!
Enough of me; how about you?
I'm glad that you found a good man,have a sussessful marriage, and a goreous daughter!!!!!!!
I always felt, even in the sad times, that you had an inner strenth and a want to succeed.I want you to know that I am very PROUD of you and all that you have achieved.I would hope that maybe I showed you a path in HS that you hesitantly tiptoed down. And now look at you!
Hey Jen is 22, graduating from USM in May and engaged to be married in August to a real nice guy that she met [gasp!] on the internet!
Anyway, my wife needs help wrapping presents and getting ready for tomorrow.
Thank you so much for the Xmas card. I really enjoyed hearing from you!
All the best to you and your family for the Holidays!
Dave
PS I still wonder about that bra I found in the Band room Ha Ha Ha
dberthia@maine.rr.com
Wow - so cool! I'm going to watch that video. I wonder if what we're finding isn't so much that students have a lot on their plate, but that they don't manage it effectively. If they are playing video games for the first half of the quarter, the second half of the quarter is going to be a nightmare wrapped in a ball of stress and served with a heavy panic sauce...
-- Mark
from "Old Roachie"
Too bad you can't just move to the BEST LITTLE CAMP IN THE WORLD & live there year round. It would be lonely in the Winter though!
As a student I can relate to such plates that are so rounded that the middle is cracking. There are days I just want to my spirit from my body so I stop feeling the pain of being stretched and pulled and tired. BTW, even students who don't play video games for the first quarter end up of the underside of the expections to the max.
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