The new school year has started. All gathered in the classrooms that were much cleaner then when we left them in June. Those blue linoleum floors just shined with pasty polish and that school smell was back in play.
What struck me this year was how much everyone didn’t know. Didn’t everyone already take Theatre History? I mean I have been teaching it for 26 years – shouldn’t everyone have gotten it by now? Why am I having to go back over the Major Dramatic Curve? Come on, I have lectured over and over on this . . . Do we really need to go through that “upstage/downstage lecture” again? Weren’t you listening to me?
Then, obviously, I realize that I have never had these kids in these classes before. They were new to me and new to this knowledge – – and, yes, I am going to have to go back over all of those areas again. It is a whole new crowd. Not to be too politically incorrect, but there are times that all teenagers look alike. But they are not. They are new. I am the only repeat in the room.
I am glad I do not dread having to go back to the beginning of the material and walk through the steps again. I know THEY will never get it because THEY will be changing every year. I just need to go through the process and enjoy what CAN be new in what COULD be old to me. The day that I cannot find the new in this – – is the day I need to be retiring. BUT that day is NOT today. I am looking for a whole new spin. I am looking forward to being an even better teacher this year then last.
This is way too much philosophy for the first day. Way too much. A cough drop and a bath. That’s all I need to be ready for day 2.