Teaching Tip #74

Teacherscribe’s Teaching Tip #74

The Myth of Teacher (Part 5 – last installment)

The boulder rushes back down.  I sigh, aching from head to toe.  I take a deep breath, look out over the top of the mountain.  I exhale, letting the breath go free and descend . . . grinning.

    

     I ever push the rock over the top.  Despite that I also become master of my fate.  I now can enjoy the work, hopeless as it may be.  I can revel in the toil.  I can rejoice in my effort, for it is a worthy effort.  Teaching is noble.  It is attempting the impossible.  I know I will never teach every single student every single day every single thing I intend.  What is important is the work.  The task.  The exalted effort. As Camus concludes, "The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart.  One must imagine Sisyphus happy" (232).  My fate belongs to me.  My teaching is my thing.  It is tragic, but above all, heroic.

       

I squat, dig my heels in, place my shoulder against the granite, and with all my strength from my toes to my neck, I push.  The boulder budges an inch.  I don’t dare a look up the mountain.  I keep my eyes focused on the ground, charting my progress inch by inch . . .