We got this.

I know this blog is more about our teaching and experiences in the schools, but I feel compelled to say something (hold your breath :) to I guess... I dunno... encourage us. Maybe.

All of us (or everyone I've spoken to in the PDS program) are frustrated by something involved with this experience. Whether it's the RPG's or the blue sheets, our co-ops or the seemingly endless amount of class work we have to do, we all feel like we're fighting an uphill battle.

It's been a rough semester for me too, for a ton of reasons it wouldn't make sense or be appropriate to go into on a classroom blog, and there have been mornings I've laid in bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering what the point was in even going in to my school that day. I feel like I don't have a ton to offer, like I'm spinning my wheels sometimes. For the first time in my academic life, I have missed due dates, done assignments at 2am, Sparknoted books instead of read them, skipped sleep for days at a time, and questioned the worth of it all. I have been, in a lot of ways, a terrible student. But I know it's turning me into a better teacher. Maybe that doesn't make a ton of sense. I know we need to learn to be both- to balance, and to work hard as anything (and we all are) now for a future pay-off. When I'm in the classroom, or really involved in making a lesson, I'm going to choose to do that instead of my reading. I just am. I try to get everything done the best that I can while maintaining my sanity, but if I need to miss a chapter of a book so that I can make an amazing, engaging lesson, then I'm going to choose that. Every time.

I guess my point is, it's important that we're striving, always, to do the best we can in all areas. At the end of the day, however, it comes down to how we live out what we read and what inspires us in our classrooms. We can sit all day talking about these concepts or we can put them into practice. We're working together, struggling through these issues, laughing over coffee, commiserating and celebrating, and all in the name of something greater that's going to come from this period of uncertainty. I'm not saying we're going to have it all figured out by the end of the year - we won't. But we are working through our frustrations to achieve some greater end - maybe we don't know exactly the form that's going to come in, but it will come. We've seen glimmers of it already - I know this because I read all of your blogs - and it moves us (even for just a second) forward.

I guess this post came from hearing/reading people's frustrations and anxieties and feeling the weight of my own. Maybe it wasn't helpful. There's a fair chance I just rambled on to no good end, but basically, what I'm trying to say is... if you can avoid it, try not to grow weary of the good work you're doing. It feels slow and cumbersome, overwhelming and aggravating, but the end will justify the means.

Stay golden, PDS. We got this.