yarrrr, treasure!

It has been an incredible first week of the program. I'm really pleasantly surprised by how much everyone has opened up and been willing to share themselves with everyone else..it's really nice how comfortable I feel already with all of you.

One treasure I think of is on the first day of class. We all filtered into SCCC 107, not knowing exactly what to expect. Once it was time to begin class, Dax finally approached us and signaled for us to stand up, make a circle, and copy his movements. He did this all without uttering a single word, and we did this for the next 5-7 minutes. It definitely relieved some of the anxiety that I (and maybe some others) were feeling, and it got us laughing. It was a good "icebreaker." I treasure this moment because in the first 5 minutes of grad school we were shedding our hesitation to really put ourselves out there, which made it easier for us to have meaningful discussion and feel connected on the first day.

Another treasure I think of is a few stories Joe told us during our first science class. He told us how it took him so long to get to the vocation of teaching, but that once he got there, his family members kept pointing out to him all the evidence of his affinity for teaching over the years. It hadn't been obvious to him, but it was easy to see when pointed out. I kind of feel the same way about how I arrived at this point. Teaching was always an option in the back of my head, and maybe I should have known that since it was the one profession that has always been "always an option" that it was the option. When I explain to people that "education chose me," I am referring to the fact that the first job I found after graduating college was in schools...but perhaps education chose me a long time ago.