One More Sleep!

Tonight is the last night before the first day of a new school year! For me that always means a restless night full of anticipation and nervous excitement for the day and year ahead. One of the reasons I love teaching, and can't imagine doing any other job, is that every year is different and new... new beginnings, new opportunities, new students, new colleagues, new classrooms, and new learning. I can't wait to see what this year will bring!

As some of you know, and others will find out soon, I am an avid reader of all kinds of books, articles, blogs, and magazines. I'll read just about anything from fiction to biography to business to technology to environment to pop culture, and of course, the occasional People Magazine. On the weekend I was looking through a couple of books that I usually revisit at the beginning of the school year and came across a passage in one of them that I had flagged a couple of years ago. The book is called "The Last Lecture" and was written by Randy Pausch. (You may have seen him on Oprah or on Youtube, talking about his book and sharing his story.) There are a number of passages in this book that I connect to as an educator, but none more than this one (from Chapter 36 - Look for the Best in Everybody):

"This is beautiful advice that I got once from Jon Snoddy, my hero at Disney Imagineering. I just was so taken with the way he put it. "If you wait long enough," he said, "people will surprise and impress you." "

This is another reason I love my job. Young children tend to surprise and impress more quickly than adults, and usually on a daily basis. :)

And with that I wish everyone a good night's sleep. See you in the morning!
-Mrs. Malkoske