School Days

View from an airplane window at the wings and flying over a scenic landscape of green hills and rivers

Last night was back-to-school night at my son’s high school. Hundreds of parents shuffling from classroom to classroom, listening to teachers describe grading procedures, attendance policies, methods for contacting them, online grade reports, and course outlines. Good times!

And while I really hope my boy is taking in the high-quality academic teaching he is offered (I am sure he is), I have to admit, there is some really solid teaching adorning posters hanging on the walls in his tenth-grade classrooms:

Make somebody’s day.

Ignorance is not an excuse.

Choose your attitude.

Be wise, protect your eyes.

The expert in anything was once a beginner.

Just because something is difficult doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, it means you should just try harder.

Reading can take you to the top.

And my personal favorite was a set of posters asking:

Who am I in the world?

What is right and wrong?

How do I communicate effectively?

How do I recognize/understand/interpret differences?

Look around yourself…right now…in this moment. What do you see? What will you learn from what is around you? What are you being reminded of right now? What meaning will you make of the images/sounds/feelings in your space at this moment?

Now back to class!