Useful in Pan-deserts
The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.
This quote caught my eye today and has been percolating this morning. Our current desert of short attention spans and instant gratification among students is made even more challenging by the pandemic. Our normal channels of irrigation are pinched off and many of my friends are twisted with anxiety over the new virtual expectations…even more so because of the latest requirements of in-person instruction.
There has to be a way to shore them up and help them to feel safe as they come back to the classroom. I want to be useful. I don’t know if cookies and jam will touch the fear. I know it would give ME something to do.
I know that we will overcome the obstacles to teaching these kids, because this is what we do. We will cry to each other and drink wine on Zoom Happy Hours and we will shake our actual fists at the virtual situation, but when it comes down to it, this vocation compels us to figure out how to make it work.
And I will continue to try to figure out small ways to bring some sunshine.
Pray for us.
