Fresh and New!

The new school year is rapidly approaching, and as a teacher (and a dork) there is no more exciting feeling. I get to meet 120 (at least) bright and fresh new faces! I get to try out some new teaching techniques and perfect old ones. Construct new concepts to fresh, new minds. It is really just too exciting.

A new school year can also mean a fresh start, especially for students. Maybe some of our little butterflies are moving to a different campus, full of totally unfamiliar faces! Maybe they are adventuring into more advanced classes or looking to start fresh and improve on past performances?

The other Ag Teachers and I have decided to power wash and clean our almost 35 year old wood shop. After it is shiny and new, we are going to apply a fresh coat of paint, and display all of the awards our FFA chapter has accumulated over the past 87 years! Hopefully this will give a fresh new outlook and give that old shop some new opportunity! 

As teachers, I hope sometimes we can look at our students in the same way we are looking at our Ag Shop. They are not always polished or pretty. They are NEVER without an imperfection (or many), but it is our job as EDUCATORS to scrub past the years of bad experiences or lack luster performance.
We must give them an opportunity to start all over.

After all, it is a New Year.