Change.

Never ever ever ever do you, as a teacher, want to stop learning. It influences the newness of your approach, which influences the receptivity of your students and makes them as excited as you are.

It’s begun. In the northern hemisphere, it’s the start of autumn and more than a month of traditional schooling is underway. In the southern hemisphere, it’s officially spring and for some, the traditional school year is one quarter from its close. Regardless of location, a lot of the world’s students are in the midst of the official learning process. What about all that goes on outside of that traditional schooling scenario? What else actually transpires amidst that process that the quantitative testing of the data centered educational universe misses?

I’m an avid art museum traveler. Wherever we go, we make sure to visit as many art museums as possible (this is the second priority in our travel planning – the first being great food). When we had a child, I wasn’t concerned that she’d love art museums, too.

June. The month where school kids get antsy, educators are doing their best to get it all in, parents are getting stuff ready for camp, and many are planning adventures near and far. It’s a change of season, the shedding of layers, an infusion of vitamin D, and a time when one door closes and another opens. Teachers in the United States are either counting the days or already out enjoying some well-deserved time away from school.

Water. At some point in social studies classes, we stop learning about water and start learning about economics, history, and even a bit of geography. Water winds up reserved for science experiments and sips from the drinking fountain down the hallway. I never really understood why. Humans and the earth are made mostly of water. We need to drink it to survive, and the land needs it to thrive.