Making It

As part of my grad classes we watch a lot of videos of teaching techniques. Most of them take place in charter schools. A lot of them are “model” teachers that are former colleagues of the admins, but some of them are from former grad students. I know our class complained that we wanted to see more clips from district schools, since that’s where we all work. Well, it seems they’re listening.

How do I know? Because my science professor asked ME if she could use one of my videos from last year as an exemplar for the first year students for a particular technique.

Me.

Grad students are now watching a video of me to learn how to do a thing.

Well, damn.

Memo to Your Younger Self

So, this was a meme on Facebook today. You only have two words to say to your younger self. What would you say? 

Most of the replies were silly. One person wrote “Buy Apple,” which is hilarious. What did I write? Nothing. What did I ALMOST write? “Come out.”

Why didn’t I actually write it?

Sometimes I envy people who figured it out early. They didn’t go through the mess of a failed marriage or confusing their loved ones. They knew exactly who they are… or at least, knew enough about themselves to question about it sooner than I did. There’s a kid in the 8th grade that I haven’t been able to nail down the gender of all year. Found out today that’s on purpose – born a boy, but acts/dresses like a girl. Well at least I don’t feel so dumb anymore. Good for you, kid. I was even more encouraged to find that the other kids are accepting. The skeptic in me wonders if that’s because of the insane height difference (this kid is easily 5’9 in middle school) but hey, good is good.

Other times I’m grateful it took me as long as it did to figure it out. Do I wish I could have done it without hurting feelings, paying alimony (yes, I paid HIM) and costing my parents a small fortune on a wedding? Sure. But every experience I’ve gone through – including that one – has made me who I am. 

And I like me.