18 Months

 I’ve long known it takes 18 months to really get the hang of a job. I have witnessed this in my own life over and over ever since Jim told me this fact. It is what he witnessed when he was in charge of salespeople. It was never wise to let them go too soon if they didn’t “perform.”

I am now looking at that number in reverse. 18 months is what I have left as a teacher in public schools. 

And I still feel like I’m trying to get it right.

Today I begin a new adventure. Okay, maybe not entirely new, but a new approach. I am storyboarding what we are doing, I’m making chapters, and I’m crystal clear on what needs to be accomplished. In other words, why we do the things we do.

Has this always been built in to my teaching in some way? I suppose. But this new process is making it clearer to me, and that matters the most. I know the strongest influence of the classroom environment is the teacher. 

It reminds me so much of reading Bob Dylan’s memoir, where he talks about how something broke open in his brain and he suddenly could see how he could approach his music in an entirely new way. This was at the end of the 1980s, and as I write this I’m listening to the album that came out of this timeframe, and I’m loving it. It is setting a tone for me that connects across time and space. 

For the next 18 months I commit again to getting it right. To ditch my cynicism and sarcasm and anger and frustration and replace with light and laughter and love and joy and remember the age and needs of my learners. I still believe I have the best job in the world, and I know that if I don’t at least try, what good am I?