I am...Internet

A few days ago, my science teacher-friend sent me the video below. I've watched it four times. I was distracted five times while watching it. I kept having to re-watch it until I could see it all. The video addresses a person's learning ability using the internet. A little ironic, I suppose.



The year has been, thus far, a conflicting year for me as a teacher. It has not been just a good year; it has been a year of utter frustration, annoyance and desperation and a year of hope, promise and reassurance. I am starting to believe that I live a double life.

To sum it up, it has been busy to the point where I don't remember with what I've been so busy. Has it been teaching related? It must be teaching related. Sometimes I can't remember what day it is. Some days I can't remember what I did the day prior. I assume I've been busy. A perfect example of my life can be explained through the following scenario: The other day, I got up at 6:00 am (I slept in), and went to the bathroom. I was not able to go to the bathroom again until 7:00 pm, when I got home from work. That statement was void of any hyperbole and it seems like it has been this way for a while now (not necessarily the bathroom, but other things I can't get to as well).

This next story is related, but won't initially seem like it. Stay with me.

I remember when I was a kid, most games could be played with more than one person. Friends would come and stay the afternoon to see who was better at mortal combat, who knew the codes, and who knew best how to blow the dust off of a game to make it work. It was a community experience that now, with information literally at my fingertips, confuses me. How did I learn the cheat codes? Who figured out that blowing in to that cartridge would make the game work? The internet provides me with all of those answers now. I don't have to talk to anyone to learn anything.

And that is depressing.

After watching the video above, I realized the source of my irritation was exactly that: my life had become the internet. Originally thinking that would be cool, it seems I was mistaken. The internet is a bunch of different things that are lonely and then it makes you feel lonely. But, it does this in such a way that makes it difficult to see just how the internet is so desolate.

Looking back on the first semester, it seems as though work has become the internet. I have moments of brilliance that become overlooked and forgotten because I have something else I need to do. I am a processor (not the computer part). It takes me a long time to sort out information and ideas. But lately, it seems I am all action and I am exhausted. If looking at my brain was like looking at the inside of an office, papers and books would be sliding off the shelves while the phone rang and the printer ran all while the windows were open with gusts of rain blown in and the curtains in a wild array of wet and dry fabric. The solution: set up some pencils in a tepee-like manner, throw in some scraps of paper, light a match, set afire and lock the door on the way out.

But seriously, compounded with the new building and being away from almost everyone aside from a couple people, has made me realize that while I seek communication, the hallways are becoming more like Facebook: deceptively social while ultimately sitting alone looking at a screen.

Prep. Hour: Best Practices

I created this blog over the last half hour of my prep. I am being observed in 15 minutes. Need copies. Bye.