We’ve been working extensively with themes in English class while looking at Act 3 of Romeo and Juliet. No, themes aren’t just one word, like “love,” “family,” “revenge,” or “punishment;” those are topics. No, themes don’t just describe what happened, like “Juliet still loves Romeo even though he killed her cousin;” that’s a summary. Themes are the message about life, the lesson, the key takeaway, like “You should (or should not) always stand behind those you love.” It’s been fun watching my students come up for themes relevant to this act, given a topic.
All of this talk of themes inspired me to try and come up with a theme for this season of my life. No matter what topic I come up with… “career,” “love,” “friendships,” “grace,” “God,” “solitude,” (the list goes on)… I seem to come up with the same theme. No matter how far I’ve come, I still have so far to go.
As I heard my work email chiming with congrats from friends across the organization who watched my webcast (unreal to think of how many people will have watched it, come Friday), I couldn’t help but feel proud, honored. I felt similarly as I walked into the focus group with 4 other teachers from my organization to speak with the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation about how our reform efforts are progressing.
But, MAN! The behavior in my classroom before I left early to attend that focus group? OFF THE HOOK. In a not good way. It’s downright embarrassing, not to mention migraine causing. Rubberbands, walk-outs, gang-banging, OH MY. Let’s not forget the busted markers, thrown pens, spitballs, profanity, attempted fighting or the walking around the classroom aimlessly. No, my days aren’t all quite so Dangerous Minds, but that class period or two who behave that way every few days? Again, I HAVE SO FAR TO GO.
Thoughts on Love, friendships, grace, God, solitude… those are a lot harder to process and package into something shareable.
