Today I took a classroom full of “stuff” and chose which parts made the final cut into my [shared] office.

A tiny, tiny portion remains at the school.  The rest is in boxes in my condo.

Tomorrow, is my final day of 2008/2009.  It’s also my last day as a classroom teacher [at least for awhile].

Whenever a big job is close to ending or close to beginning, there’s a busyness.  I’m curious to see, once this busyness subsides, how I really truly feel about all this.  I know I’m more excited than nervous.  I know I have a lot to learn.  I know it’s going to be a total change.

Completely new learning and… nervous excitement?

How, how, how could that be anything but a good thing?  It’s never been anything BUT so far.

=)

Today, I defined productivity.

Assembly, field-trip, paperwork, term-paper (mostly done although not done).

But oy yoy yoy my energy banks are depleted BIG TIME!

All end-of-Junes are killer, but this one has been the most killer for sure (in both an exciting sense and an insane workload sense).

Almost Friday.

Ah, the laws of procrastination and the economics of breaks-as-rewards.

BUT.

There are some real gems!  I don’t know if it was my headspace or the talk itself, but one in particular kind of reminded me of why I teach.  My teaching-as-a-means-of-conveying-democratic-values muscle was reactivated.  Two quotes in particular:

1. The hard choices in public action are not between good and evil,
   but between competing goods.
2. If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be” –Thomas Jefferson.

Okay.  Just sayin’.  Back to work.

Today I lock myself in the school, this beautiful day, to finish report cards.
Tomorrow I lock myself in the condo, probably another beautiful day, to begin a term paper that is due Friday.

…all the while thinking of all the changes on the horizon awaiting here at the school, and down south in Lethbridge.

Well less time typing about it; and more time sorting through it.

It begins.

…to write and tell you about
my date with ten thousand people on
Saturday in
Edmonton a city that
remains one of my favourites.

…to write and tell you about
how it [Edmonton] kind
of feels like the Montreal of
the west.

…to write and tell you about
the summer to
come and the
job to
come, as details unfold.

BUT I’m exhausted.   …and it’s only Tuesday.  …and a PILE of report cards, and filing, and moving, and doing lies
ahead.

So tonight is all about
a walk to clear my head
food to fill my tummy.
an early night, so I can take-on the rest of the week

and the pile of a mountain,
HEAD ON.

Just like I usually can.
When I’m at my best, that is.

Ah, the two-week summer homestretch on the dawn of a freakin’ million changes.

It’s the elephant in the room: travisjohnrobertson.com is showing its age.

This site domain no longer reflects the abilities of my MacBook nor myself.
This site domain no longer overanalyzes discusses, categorically, the many facets of what I do or experience.

I think it’s time for a ‘revamp’.

It’s time to consider rewiring WordPress to a newer version without panicking about losing it all.
It’s time to consider getting rid of some of the clutter.
It’s time to professionalize parts while keeping some of the personal parts in tact.

…and just like cleaning a room is like cleaning a headspace; re-creating a site is like recreating oneself.

If you have some know-how here… be prepared for some collaboration requests.

Time to get the *under [re]construction* ribbon!

Ancient Greeks, according to Elizabeth Gilbert, believed creativity came from a distant, unknowable source for a distant, unknowable reason.  I’d add, maybe, for a distant, unknowable amount of time.

I’m feeling awfully creative these days.  …and happy.  AND, I hope I can maintain it.  I also hope I’m able to put it all to good use, in the short-term, on some Report Cards.

…and then in the long-term, into my new and improved teaching adventures.  I cannot tell you how excited I am about next year’s new position at the school, nor how excited I am about the masters degree about to be started upon.  At least 50% of the excitement is Standing On Top of the 10m Diving Plank excitement though, with my heart beating nervously out of my chest [WHICH I'm starting to interpret as a really, really good thing].

Last night a few things happened which really confirmed my, for lack of a better word, direction.  One, I spoke to my entire staff in recognition of a teacher retiring and it felt really, really good.  Gauging her reaction she felt really, really good too… which was kind of the whole point.  Our staff is huge, so throw in a few alumni on top of that, and you have a small stadium of people to address.  Second, I was able to steal a bit of time from our ex-A.P. who is now onwards and upwards.  He asked how I was doing at the school with utmost sincerity, and I shared with him that I was really happy and felt like I had a really clear idea of what my teaching career looks like for at least the next three years.  He looked me straight in the eye after sharing commendation and said, “You know Travis, this is going to be a lot of work”.  I replied with equal sincerity that I was ready for it all… and that it all felt really, really right.

And now between you and I…

…as though, from a distant, unknowable source.

=)

Ah, beginning new adventures!  It doesn’t feel, to be honest, any different than that first day of, well…. Grade One.