Remiss in my duties

I feel poorly that I have not written a blog in so long. I have had lots of break time between then and now. This week we've been kind of back in the saddle, doing some professional development with TFA to prepare for our real classrooms in the fall. Our full time, year long class room. I have been writing goals, visions, and units for my 5th grade math and science classes for the fall, and calendering objectives for the first month of teaching. Writing the actual lesson plans will come later; for right now, I'm going to try to compose a comprehensive view of what my class will look like for the year- though I know that it will be a rather fluid situation. I have to remain flexible yet resolute; there can be no budging on my academic goals for my class.

I have been thinking a lot about community, about what it will mean to live in New Orleans and be a part of my school, my neighborhood. I think that there has to be a conscious decision to plug in. There has to be an intentionality in my actions if I want to truly have the impact on my surroundings that I desire. I'm still forming in my mind and in my heart what my next two years will look like. Will I stay after school at my school every day to make sure that my students are all at the place they need or want to be? Will I form clubs and organizations to be able to impact students? Will I return home in the evening and turn on the tv, or will I invest in my neighborhood, neighbors, and roommates? Will I find a new church community to plug into, or will I return to Mandeville every now and again and be a part of things I know there? Will I have the time and energy to invest in small groups? Will I have the time and energy to invest in my own relationship with my Savior, or will my Bible lay dusty...

All of this will begin to solidify and crystallize in the next few weeks. I'll find a place in New Orleans, I'll start at my school, and, if I'm not careful, I'll slip into a routine without a lot of thought. I have to try to be as intentional as possible, as forward thinking as possible. I have to make the decisions to be the person I want to be, to have the impact I want to have. It isn't just going to fall that way- I have to make it so.

I'll leave you with a quote I find especially beautiful: "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea." ~Antoine de Saint Exupery

We have to teach our kids to dream of greatness more than we have to direct them to write essays and fill out worksheets. We have to teach our neighbors to have a vision of community, not direct them to pay membership dues. We have to decide as a church to set our eyes on Jesus, not direct each other to sit in a pew and stare blankly forward.