33 Day Challenge

Having not posted a blog in awhile, I thought of a good challenge.  33 Chapters.  33 Days.  33 Reflections.  I have not been back to visit Jonathan Kozol's On Being A Teacher in years, definitely before I began my doctoral program in 2011.  In the months after completing my dissertation defense, I have been at some kind of stop-gap.  One of my advisors said that I would feel tremendous anxiety having so much free time.  "No" was an answer I often gave and instead went to Starbucks and sat in front of my computer for hours transcribing audio files, coding data, and writing. 

​ Now that it's done, I find myself doing a lot of nothing but sitting and thinking.  School is out.  I am not teaching summer school.  What have I really accomplished?  My peers and family are proud and yet I feel a sense of incompleteness.  Studying for five years with some of the smartest and most compassionate teachers, colleagues, activists, mentors, and friends filled a gap I discovered after five years of teaching.  Just five months later, it is happening again.  

What does it mean to be a teacher?

• Noun - teacher
• Verb - to teach
• Adverb - teacherly
• Gerund - teaching

Thus, my personal challenge.  You'd think that instead of 33 days of reading and writing about be better spent doing 33 days of activity.  I did a little searching and found a great TedTalk by Matt Cutts about 30 Day Challenges.  I will heed his advice and not take on too much; however, I like the 30 minute walk.  It might be cheating when I am on vacation for two weeks, because I promise to do a lot of walking.

There will be a brief gap in my responses when I am gone; however, that time I set aside to do some inward searching.  When I have Internet, I'll post.  When I don't, journaling will suffice.  Today this journey begins.  I hope that this challenge turns to dialogue and invites others to explore along with me.