...And I Felt Like a Kid Again...

I’ve been teaching for over twenty years now, and while I pride myself on always being professional, there was this one day when all that professionalism seemed to melt away. It was during an art class, and we were discussing impressionist painters. The students had just painted their first still life of fruit in the style of Monet. Now, as a teacher, you’re supposed to be impartial and critical but also encouraging. So there I was, standing in front of this chaotic arrangement of watercolors that barely resembled apples or bananas, trying my best to find something positive to say... But then one student’s painting just caught me off guard. It looked like it had been done by a five-year-old, big blobs of red and green all over the paper, and I found myself laughing so hard that tears were streaming down my face... Not exactly how you want your students to see you, right? The laughter was genuine, but it wasn’t quite appropriate for the moment. After class, I had to explain it away as a teacher’s unique perspective on creativity and humor, but inside, I knew it was just because sometimes, in that job, you need a reminder of what real joy feels like...