WiFi Washer & Dryer
Moving is both mentally and physically exhausting. It’s a frustrating endeavor, taking a family on a roller coaster of emotions. One day everyone is excited, working together as a team, focused on the goal of getting all of their belongings over to the new home where they’ll lay their heads each night and create many more memories together. The next day, sore muscles and mind from the previous day. Everyone’s fuse has been cut short due to this and a lack of caloric intake from all of the busyness. Hands in the air, screams escaping our mouths, and new memories on a film role we hope will never be developed. Moving is both mentally and physically exhausting.
My family has recently moved. My wife and I bought our first home in September 2006. Since then we have joined each other in holy matrimony in 2007, welcomed our first son in 2008, our daughter in 2011, and helped propel one another over so many milestones and accomplishments in that home for the last 14 years. My wife and I have longed to move out of our starter home for many years now, and on June 23, 2020, we finally saw that dream come true when we closed on our home!
The move was good. Unlike many families that pack and store everything until the closing date and then move their entire lives in one day, we were fortunate enough to have nearly two weeks to do this. We had sold our first home, the home full of so many memories, to my wife’s younger sister. This is also a comfort knowing we will be able to return and visit our home, albeit, it is THEIR home now.
We’ve been in our new home for nearly two weeks by the time your eyes are being blessed with this beautiful piece of writing. Things are going well and every day we are making it feel more and more like a home. Curtains are hung. New furniture, welcoming, positive, friendly decor is hung. Yet there is still a learning curve that I am struggling with. I’m talking about the appliances.
Yes, appliances. Refrigerator, freezer, microwave, washer and dryer. I haven’t even attempted to use the oven or stove yet, but I know that day is coming. If you’ve never moved homes, nine times out of ten the appliances STAY at the residence they are in. They, along with anything mounted to the walls (don’t get me started on the fiasco I had with one of our TV mounts), do not move with a family because they are now considered part of that home. Permanent fixtures, only they really aren’t permanent because I have a nice Dewalt drill that can get them out of the wall studs. But I digress.
We have all new, NEW appliances. They look great, and I’m sure they do an amazing job at the task they’re supposed to, I just haven’t gotten there yet. Our freezer is a bottom drawer that I haven’t yet mastered the puzzle of fitting everything in it and staying shut. The microwave has super radiating powers and blackened my pieces of plant based bacon. Washer and dryer, I don’t know, this one you put in the clothes, then detergent, then pick your water style and power on. The complete opposite of what I’ve been doing for 14 years. We could just ask my sister-in-law to trade appliances, bring all of our old ones with us here and give them our new ones we inherited and had to buy. Right?
This learning curve I’m experiencing, as well as my beautiful family is, has me thinking about teachers and education. How many times does a lesson, an activity, a program, an initiative, or any other buzzword in education become antiquated? How many years does it take for what worked with one group of students suddenly not to make any difference to the current group? The answer, ALL OF THE TIME!
Education is ever evolving, more so now than ever with the rise of technology and the COVID-19 Pandemic which has forced educators to approach their craft in drastically different environments and needs for not only our most important group, our students, but all stakeholders. Educators must adapt to the times, stay current on educational trends and focuses. It is no longer solely about memorizing dates, knowing how to multiply fractions, or diagraming a sentence. Now educators must compete with the bombardment of technology that consumes our students' lives, leaving educators to find exciting, engaging, out-of-the-box activities that still teach to the standards and curriculum. Educators must put relationships and SEL first and foremost, connecting with students and their families, creating that strong, trusting bond before any learning can take place. Any and every educator, no matter if they have been in the game for 1 or 100 years, has had to adapt to change.
Educators who are in this for the right reasons, to make a difference in the lives of our children, know, and accept, that they will be forced to change their lessons, their activities, and their approach as student needs change. This is what makes a great educator, one that continues to learn, adapt, and fight to make difference. Our world changes, our students change, and that means educators need to change as well. What worked five years ago may not work now, and that’s ok. Tweak it, adjust it, and adapt it if you still need to hold onto a piece of it. Even when we move homes we still bring many items with us as they are a passionate piece of us and our lives.
Now if I can just get my clothes to all come out dry on one cycle...
