Dear colleague,
I'm grateful to be coming off a needed staycation spring break. Now I'm ready to get back to teaching right beside you as we seek to finish strong.
During the break, I took a mini-retreat to a cabin with no wifi, seeking clarity about this blog. What the heck is this blog for? What's my writing about? It's weird to even have those questions, seeing as I've been writing here for almost twelve years and almost 1,000 posts. I mean, it takes a special guy to write that much and still not know what he's trying to do or say, doesn't it?
But this is a troubling thing about writing for me — even when it’s done, it's not done. Tomorrow, the itch is back to say that thing I'm trying to say, and the itch is stubborn, staying until I scratch it.
All to say, let me take a go today at saying what this blog’s nearly 1,000 articles have been swinging at.
Being called to teaching is beautiful, noble, good. This is a lovely career — not because of the circumstances we find ourselves in, but because of the timeless significance and quiet grandeur of the calling.
Why? Because when you teach, you undertake a single purpose: to promote the long-term flourishing of young people by way of teaching them toward mastery of age-old disciplines.
And of course, this is soooooo hard. Because of two main problems:
- 1: Human beings can’t be made to master anything. They’ve got to want the mastery for themselves, and then they’ve got to do the hard work that mastery requires.
- 2: Human beings have a tendency to mistake useful work that produces mastery with busy work that does not produce mastery.
Our job, then, is to help students 1) want to do the work of learning and 2) make sure it's the right work.
And basically, that's what this blog is for: helping you and I to do our jobs.
So that you and I can live in the reality that teaching is a beautiful, noble, and good career — even today.
Especially today.
See you next week,
DSJR
Sue says
Hi Dave!
I am so grateful for your writing, for this and for all of your posts, and for the sincere solidarity and inspiration you offer. It’s hype-free and perfectionism-free. What you offer is useful and usable. It gives me fuel as a teacher, and I know it fuels thousands of other educators as well. And then there’s the ripple effect of that to consider. Go teachers! Go you.
Thank you so much for all you do.
Sue
Dave Stuart Jr. says
Thank you Sue
Amber Denure says
Dave, I often share your posts with my staff. All of your writing is insightful and practical, but I think the posts that mean the most to my teachers right now focus on balancing the work of teaching and living a fulfilling life outside of school. Thank you for the work you do!
Dave Stuart Jr. says
Thank you Amber!
Linda says
Your writing and information have made my journey as a teacher a better one. I appreciate everything you are trying to do and join you on the path to mastery for my students and myself. Thank you for your hard work:)
Dave Stuart Jr. says
Thank you Linda!