Yesterday was a very long day. From consoling a teary student, to working with a more experienced teacher on marking moderation, to introducing a new unit, it was one of those really busy ones. When my day was more or less finished, I glanced down at my feet. Why were my new-school-year new shoes already scuffed? Why was it only my right foot?
I laughed internally when I realized that I had, in my hurry that morning, slipped on a new shoe and an old shoe. Yes, I bought the same shoes this year as I did last year. They look exactly the same except that my old pair (kept as a backup pair under my desk) have a different colour buckle and are considerably more scuffed up.
In our Cohort 21 Twitter chat last night, I mentioned this and managed to get some amused responses. But then I got to thinking that there has to be a teaching metaphor here.
Folks, I got through my day. It wasn’t that easy, but I did it. I didn’t have both of my shiny new shoes, but I DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE. I’m the type of person who would like to have it all together when it comes to my teaching. I just don’t though. None of us do. I am striving for it though. While I integrate new and rich practices into my teaching, I have to rely on some older (tried and true?) ones as well. Those old ones aren’t necessarily bad. Sometimes they are the well-worn foundations that we know fit and go hand-in-hand (foot-in-foot?) with the new ones.
This is a short one, but hopefully it resonates with you today!