Tis the Season

Today marks the first day of Winter Break, woohoo! To all of you non-teachers... suck it! As a teacher, I can safely say that I look forward to snow days, holidays, and vacations more than I ever did as a student. Though, for all of you going through your internship/residencies... you definitely have my sympathy. After comparing horror stories, I am now firmly convinced that I wouldn't be able to hack it as a doctor. Though, in our own ways, we really are saving lives every single day.

At one point, I remember wanting to be a back-up dancer for hip hop music videos. I also remember seriously considering moving out to the Pacific Northwest and becoming a forest firefighter. I could've been "Mr. Chengsaw" doing that too, I think. If there's something I've realized in my old age, it's that we never stop growing, and we never stop learning. I'd like to believe that I've got some things figured out, but man, Socrates really was spot-on about that whole "really, I dunno shit" thing. Maybe "growing" really is just a process of internalizing our prior experiences and learning from them. I'd also love to grow in the more literal sense as well. I've been this height since the 7th grade. At one point in my life, I was considered relatively tall. But hell, like I tell my kids when they bluntly observe "Mr. Cheng, you're short"--luckily, respect isn't measured in feet and inches.



I'll see some of you very soon! Can't wait!


xoxo

Facebook-freeeeeee and It Feels So Good

Maybe it's because of the onset of winter, maybe it's because i'm staring 30 in the face, or maybe it's because i dropped $35k and a year of my life at UPenn doing it, but I've found myself reflecting a lot lately. Life...work...fantasy football... it's been a very holistic process.

I think it goes without saying, and I think I can speak for many of us when I say that I am desperately looking forward to winter vacay. While work has definitely gotten better, whether this is because I just don't care as much or because things have actually improved remains to be seen. I do want to come back to Tech Prep. When I see some of these kids running around like they run the place, I cannot wait to get my hands on them (speaking figuratively, of course!). When I see something that's broken, I want to fix it. And yes, there's an implication there that my school is very much broken. I firmly believe that at the core of any successful school, you will find a group of committed, invested, and incredibly resilient teachers (budding alcoholics). In my vast experience as an urban educator, I've learned that it's not just about the kids or me or lesson planning--it's also about the people I work with, the people I struggle with day-in, and day-out, just to get by until that next 3-day weekend comes around. I try not to dwell on the bad things, but it's become so difficult to keep my head above the water when the day-to-day crap just keeps dragging you down. I try to remain optimistic, and I truly believe that with the right people and the right supports in place, my school can become a school to be proud of.

Outside of work (or what little remains of my life outside of work), I'm enjoying my move down to DC--no offense to those of you still in Baltimore, but dude, that place is ghetto as shit! I've worked in some rough 'hoods, but Baltimore takes the cake. No, really, if you had a cake in Baltimore, someone would take it from you.

I'm not really sure how long I'll end up staying here in DC, and factoring in historical trends, this time next year I may end up in Miami. Miami would be nice, I think. Lots of sunshine and old people. I enjoy one of those.




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