Elephant in the Classroom

So the other day I was talking with Ashley towards the end of the class and mentioned she'd been absent a lot and asked if she had been ill. She said, "No, we've been getting the place ready for my parents. They're coming home." "Really?" I was a bit puzzled. "Yeah," she said, "I pick dad up from prison on Monday and mom on Wednesday." Somebody Else's Problem* just walked in the classroom door. Don't take it personally Arthur and I know they didn't cover this in the undergrad education courses you took... of course said courses were an easy A and a joke. After I'd been teaching a few years the Head of the Education College invited me to teach teachers since I was such a good teacher. I took the bait but soon realized I couldn't teach them how to be me and wasn't sure what it was that I was doing that was so good. Since then I've figured out a few things and thought I'd share what they don't cover in those college classes. The most important thing we can teach our students is that learning is fun and they can do it. If we don't teach them that it doesn't matter what we teach. "S.E.P.s... from Douglas Adams Life, the Universe and Everything, *This is the best book on education I've ever read. It's the portrait of a teacher." Bruce Knecht