Jet-Lagged in a Paradigm Shift

From the archives...

Moot Points

Jet-lagged in a paradigm shift

Marty Rempel

During the summer I rarely wore a watch. Instead, I navigated by the stars and rarely reached my destination. I read escapist literature, watched late night movies and barbecued my breakfast. Now I synchronize, coordinate, schedule and grab a morning coffee at Tim's place. I like both patterns. I enjoy the newness of September as I struggle over learning students' names, getting things out of central printing and establishing my teaching routines.

Our district started the year by gathering custodial staff, maintenance people, teachers, teaching assistants, administrators and central office staff for a presentation on Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Our speaker, a former superintendent with the Peel Board of Education, helped us to understand the nirvana of time management in quadrant two . . . the tranquil, not urgent, matrix cell of pedagogical inner peace. It was time well spent as I made my perilous leap from sandaled feet upon Tofino sand to sensible shoes on classroom floors.

Adjusting from the vacation mode to the workday mode is always a tough transition—one that teachers deal with in their own ways as they enter their classrooms in late August. We prepare ourselves, our lessons and resources, and we collect our thoughts. I still find that the job is interfering with my sleep pattern; adjusting to early mornings is like being jet-lagged. From pulp fiction to curriculum, Bart Simpson to Survivor (but without the million dollars), we teachers gear up, as do students, to a new academic year. Now it's October . . . Are you a survivor?

By the end of September I think my mind and body were finally one with the matrix, yet I continue to experience recurring dreams of beachcombing and wake up in a sweat repeating the mantra of paradigm shifts.

Marty Rempel is a Local ATA Communications Officer and a teacher of social studies at Westwood Community High School in Fort McMurray.