I’m trying to get back to my roots.

Everything I do, or think about, I almost always end up talking about or thinking about teaching. It’s in my heart and my soul. I’ve been spending July with my favorite teacher organization, the NYC Writing Project, engaging in deep, thoughtful work around ourselves as teachers and as writers. This is my fourth summer in a row working with the NYCWP Summer Invitational. You don’t do that unless it’s true love.

And I find that it is. I daydream about teaching; I think about teaching as I drift off to sleep; memories of teaching make me smile to myself in the middle of my day, just walking down the street. I start out talking about cooking, or a movie I’ve just seen, trying to research some current events, but I end up back in my classroom, thinking about how to bring this to students, imagining how they will interpret or connect or analyze. I’m hooked.

I’m lucky enough to have spent all month with like-minded teachers, who are happy to spend six-hour days geeking out about their craft. But even that’s not enough. So back to blogging, about my classroom, my ideas, how teaching pervades all areas of my life in the best way. It feels good to be starting out again.