Evolution: No line on the horizon

Just as the humanoid scoffs at the silly ape,
and the fish dreams of the distant amoeba,
the celestial space whale scoffs at the planet born,
a time when hirs distant ancestors were bound
by limitations
of gravity,
space,
and
time,

We evolve.
We move on.
And our predecessors seem silly by comparison.


When I first started teaching it was as simple as having heart,
the best teachers should go to those who need them the most,
those children living in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods,
facing the worst hardship,
deserved the teachers with the best of intentions,
and the strongest wills.

Maybe that's still the way it is.

I remember a time when I believed that teaching
was something that could be done TO a person.

I never believed it was as simple as filling a pail.
Maybe still believe it's like lighting a fire.

Later the priority was moral education,
teaching students to treat each other with kindness

Later again I embraced the fad of more content
richer content
still trickling from the weak spicket of a single source

Then came integrating the arts
except no institution wanted to purchase that magic seed
sew that potent fertilizer

and finally I came to realize that the
last
final
best job of the teacher
is to get rid of the teacher

I've always been drawn to the extremes
the polarities,
easier to understand a shape
by exploring it's outer edges

Montessori will mean showing children how to teach themselves
construct the environment
in order to mold the shell
to influence the will

like air force compressed
plastic into a mold

the mold makes shape
makes form

And I will get to start over
at the beginning
in the garden
of la casa di bambini

endless possibilities


Like the space whale
exploring the galaxy
the horizon is gone