Sunday morning May 2 2021
Day One 7th Grade Science
It was the first day of class. Before me sat 30 kids and it was their first science class. 30 faces stared at me as I stood off to the side of the group. I was wearing my white lab coat.
“Why the somber faces? We are about to embark on an amazing journey that will change your life. This thing you do we call education is an exciting adventure. Think of it as a big key. (I began drawing a key that filled one of the white boards.) Your education is preparation. I can’t tell you what that preparation is going to do for you, but without it there will be no opportunities. Opportunities? What kind of opportunities you ask…. Well, that’s why you are here. Together we will explore exciting new things. Think of these next years as walking down the candy aisle at the grocery store. You will get to try many new kinds of goodies. You will begin to find what you like the most. You will also find that this aisle is very, very long. How long? It stretches before you for as long as you live.
Sunday morning May 2,, 2021:waked into our classroom with. What do you suppose it is? Let’s come back to that a little later. Just know that it is a very important on
Today we begin unlocking doors. Today we begin exploring the universe around us. Where it leads, I can’t tell you. But I do know this: While the keys are freely given, you must take them in, make them work for you.”
I woke up from the dream, those 30 faces staring at me fresh in my mind. Now at age 75 I still vividly remember the excitement of starting a new class. I stood before maybe 8000 faces on their first day of science over my time teaching. Add to that the many thousands more I enjoyed learning with in presentations, keynote speeches, lectures, evenings under the stars doing astronomy with groups as small as one person to star parties for Japanese tourists in Hawaii that were done before 600 people per night, 3 days a week.
It was a nice way to wake up this morning. I know I made a difference and that is the greatest reward a teacher can get.
Mike Jones
Shelton, WA
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