My goal is to find “more” for my students and for myself. As the data swirls around us threatening to suck us all into a number vortex, I hang on tightly to the foundation of my beliefs about our purpose. We are more than numbers! Today’s “more” was so simple! Simply beautiful. Cue a musical number.
Today I just fed the spirit. It brought me more joy than I anticipated on this gloomy January day in Michigan. My planning time is 1st hour, and a handful of students visit me in the early morning when they have 15 minutes to roam the school before classes start. They tell me how tired they are and plead, “Can’t I just stay here and rest?” I smile my mom smile and encourage them to get more sleep, I pat their backs, and send them off to start their days.
Once alone in my classroom, I slip my LaLa Land soundtrack into the computer and cue up”Another Day of Sun.” I HIGHLY recommend this jumpstart to any day. I twirled and danced around the room, wiping the desks down with Clorox and shelving classroom library books. My mind only soaked up the music, could only think “happy” with that melody filling every corner.
The chorus bounces off the walls, I sing along, and find reassurance in the lyrics.
I’m reaching for the heights
And chasing all the lights that shine
And when they let you down
You’ll get up off the ground
‘Cause morning rolls around
And it’s another day of sun
These words speak, or should I say sing, to me. I’m trying my best, holding on to my grand ideas about what this job of teaching should look like, and sometimes I feel crestfallen, defeated. But if I just remember that it will all seem better in the morning. That there will be “another day of sun.” Another chance to reach for my ideal.
It all seemed possible and hopeful while the music played. And even after. I dare you to play that song and feel the hope of music. Let that hope shape a whole day!
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