22 January 2010

An open letter to myself in 25 years (part 1)

Dear self,


How are things? I hope we are still teaching. There are many things that have changed by this time, such as the address of this blog, your flying car, and the amazing grandchildren we probably have now. I'm sure we are still a million dollars short of making a million dollars, but at least we still love the movie "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles"!


Remember how back in the day you used to get aggravated about "veteran teachers" complained all the time about how the kids have changed and how technology is too pervasive in the classroom and how they don't know how many more years they can take this? Are you there yet? Have you lost your will to change with the times? Are you burned out? Do you think you are having a positive influence on your peers? Are you discouraged or encouraged by the current state of affairs?


How about your classes? Are they still challenging you? Or have you fallen into the "rut" of doing the same things year after year? Do you still reflect on what you are doing in class? Do you still try to make class relevant to your students? Remember how frustrated you used to get over the batteries on the laptops we used in class? Have they fixed any of that? Surely every student has their own laptop now!


My hope for you is that you are still as passionate about Physics in your "now" as we were back in this "now". If you are ever able to do anything with time travel, I'd surely appreciate a visit from you.

No comments:

Post a Comment