I subscribe to The Marshall Memo, a self-described “weekly round-up of important ideas and research in K-12 education.” In his latest memo, Mr. Marshall found this gem from Roxanna Elden:
Your job is not to be a perfect teacher the first year. It is to keep working at it and get better so on some October day years from now, when you’ve (mostly) figured out this whole teaching thing, and you (usually) love it, you can offer guidance to some newer teacher who is carrying around a resignation letter ‘just in case’ or fantasizing about driving off a bridge. (*)
It is a great perspective to have in many careers, but especially apt now that mid-terms are over and we head into the second half of the semester with nine new faculty members, some of whom may be wondering what they got themselves into. For you veterans out there, this may be a good day to reach out show some teaching love.
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(*)“The Five Worst Things to Do After a Bad Day” by Roxanna Elden in Educational Horizons, October/November 2011 (Vol. 90, #1, p. 29),
Don's Desk 
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