While looking for something totally unrelated, I stumbled upon a bucket of my teaching documents from 2008. Instead of staying on task, I jumped down a rabbit hole of worksheets, tip sheets, graded papers, student evaluations, and more from semesters teaching an advanced media writing course.
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As I unearthed parts of my teaching past, I found myself motivated by that teacher from 12 years ago. The time she would take to create a new worksheet and the lengths she would go to connect students with real-world learning was inspiring. I still spend time crafting documents to help students and developing real-world connections, but when reflecting on an entire tub of pedagogy, I'm reminded that the time invested matters.
Time matters, too. It was a stark look at how much has changed in my field. The Associated Press help files are from a style guide long ago and the print-focused stories my students crafted screamed for a multimedia make-over. The gentle reminder -- keep learning and keep up -- lingered in my mind.
This tub of goodness arrived at just the right time. I'm finishing my class plans and syllabi for the fall, and past me gave present me that extra boost of motivation I need after an unusual spring semester and stay-at-home summer.
Did I recycle the entire contents of the tub? Whoa, let's not get too wild. I did pare it down A LOT and it now fits in one tidy binder. I hope your fall planning is coming along, and if you get diverted, don't fret. It might be exactly what you needed.
