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Turning the Corner...1.15.10


Turning the corner~
We teach our students to walk in the hallway for a variety of reasons.  One of these being the inevitable encounter with someone else as you turn the corner.  If you're walking, the chances of injury diminish.  All said and done, you never know what might be around the corner as you turn it--so be careful.
January lends itself to turning corners as we find ourselves once again immersed in the classroom and all it has to offer.  I notice my students returning to the routines of our school days with little regression to former ways...as if they have been doing this their whole lives.  There, is however, a slight difference in them.  They have certainly turned some corners...
They are beginning to function in the classroom through their own independence; no longer relying on their teacher for everything. The level of responsibility for their own education and, furthermore, their ownership in this process is becoming evident.  They are demonstrating compassion and patience with one another as well as with me. Before my very eyes, I see them growing, maturing, and fulfilling what time has always had in store for them...to become themselves.
As I turn the corner into the new year once again, I walk for the same reasons as we teach them to walk~~so as not to run into something that could be potentially damaging.  Yet I walk through the corner for another reason...so that I do not miss a single moment that will surely become a part of my memories and enrich my life experience.
Turning the corner~
Mr. Casten
Jan. 15, 2009

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