Summer vacation ended about twelve hours ago, thus negating the the original reason for maintaining this blog but we'll see how it all plays out anyway. My first official day back was... so many words to choose from: Lackluster? Maybe. Uneventful? Yes. Mundane? Not really. Routine? There it is. After eighteen years of celebrating the first day back, there is a definite sense of routine to it all. There wasn't any real excitement, or romance, or any anticipation of the as yet undiscovered and unexperienced. Mainly, I think, because I've done this enough times that the thrill is simply gone. I didn't even really give in to the admittedly anal impulse of writing out a list of everything that needed to be done before open house, because at this stage in the game I really think I could put my classroom together half-awake.
And somehow all of this got me thinking about the theater that goes hand in hand with teaching. I had a moment where I was a bit concerned, projecting ahead to the first day, seeing the students show up ready to see their friends, sporting the new shoes and haircuts and school supplies, more ready to get back to the routine of the school day than they will ever let on. And then there's me, standing in the front, feeling very blasé about it all. And God knows I can't do that, which is where the theater comes in.
That title for today, about the sumo and the ham sandwich? That came from a line on "The West Wing," probably my favorite TV show of all time and one that I'm currently rewatching on DVD. I see some comparisons between the kind of activity that charges through the way President Bartlet's White House was depicted and the way running an elementary school works out behind the scenes. Four thousand things going on at once, decisions about things that really should be carefully thought through made on the fly simply because they have to be, and more human drama than anyone can stomach in a day. I remember an episode on the DVDs not long ago when Pres. Bartlet was talking to some little kids before some holiday ceremony when one of his staffers pulled him aside to tell him that a hospitalized hate-crime victim had just died, and he had to take in the news then turn on a dime and go back to being silly and goofy for the kids. I had an experience like that once, when my principal interrupted my class to pull me into the hallway and tell me that a former student who was in high school at that time had been found dead as a result of an accidental drug overdose. And after we talked for a minute about it, I had to put on my happy teacher face and go back in and pretend like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, because the most important thing I had to deal with in that moment was making sure that I got the idea of the lesson across for the kids in my room right then.
And that's where the theater come into play. I've never been in a play myself; my theater experience has been limited to the one play I wrote and taking a few bows for it onstage at the community theater. But knowing how important it is for me to be inspiring even when I don't feel inspired myself, and knowing that I can pull that off with a practiced touch? I'm thinking this isn't all that separated from acting.
Luckily I also know from experience that given enough time in the setting, the inspiration won't be forced anymore. It might be routine for a week or two, but it'll click.
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