One thing I really, really enjoy about being a teacher is the fact that there is a definitive beginning and ending to the year. It’s a profession that lends itself to renewal, yet each year also has its rituals and routines.
For this week’s PhotoWednesday, I have chosen pictures that represent each season of my 2010-11 school year.
For fall, I have a photo of freshmen rowers tossing their coxswain in the river after winning their first race in October. It’s a tradition for gold medal boats to send their coxswain for a swim, but I have to say, these guys did an especially good job with the launching.
Winter 2011 brought the greatest spate of snow days this Southern school has ever seen. Lacking sleds, the boys improvised with kayaks.
For spring, a photo that one of my students took with his cell phone. Since March, this little sparrow (I think it’s a sparrow) has been visiting the windowsill of my classroom. It’s always an event when he shows up – lots of clamoring to get pictures of him. We named him Pedro. At this point in the year, Pedro reminds us of how close our freedom really is. Agonizingly close. Pedro, why must you taunt us??
Gold medal coxswain toss. Tennessee River. October 2010
Kayaking down three flights of stairs.
Ask not for whom the sparrow sings. Pedro sings for thee.
Erin E. Tocknell 