Maybe it was on Halloween when kiddos under the age of eight asked me who I was dressed up as. I responded with Princess Leia from Star Wars, many kiddos asked, "Who? You mean Rey?". Sigh.
Then today while covering for 9th grade computers, I asked if the students would like to listen to some music. They let me pick and I chose 80's pop. Prince came on. A student stated, "Is this that guy from Minnesota that died that was one of the ones they called the Prince?" Ugh. Stake right to the heart! That guy from Minnesota? That guy who was one of the ones called Prince? No...he was THE ONE.
This got me thinking about living in the past. Am I stuck in my childhood? Did I binge watch the second season of "Stranger Things" last weekend because I wanted to know what was going on with the Hawkins lab and the Upside Down or was it because of the giddy feeling I got when watching a show with all that 80's music, high-waisted jeans, flipped up collars, and awesome hair? (If you have not watched "Stranger Things" on Netflix...do it. Then stay up and watch "Stranger Things 2". Each season is only 8 episodes...8 hours. YOU CAN DO IT IN A WEEKEND NO PROBLEM!)
Am I living in the past or is it nostalgia? I am going to go with nostalgia. I am not still feathering my hair, wearing jelly shoes, or dousing myself in Love's Baby Soft. That would be living in the past. But I do get a great feeling that you get when I hear a certain song...see a certain toy I had...see a certain movie from my childhood. There is somewhat of longing to return to that time. Let's face it. Life seemed way simpler then.
While we can long for that feeling of simplicity, we cannot live in the past. Not in our lives and especially not in the classroom. Here it is...again...you cannot teach the same year over and over again. You cannot teach in the past. You have to adapt to the times. You have be willing to embrace technology. It is here. Get used to it. Use it. Saying "I am just not good with computers" is no longer an acceptable response in 2017. You have to be willing to offer the "floor" to your students. You have to let them talk...share...research...become experts. You have to read recent research and use that information to think about your teaching and your kiddos. You have think outside the box on how to assess your students to play to the world around us. You have to prepare our students for jobs that haven't been created yet. Teaching in the past will not allow you to do that.
Teach our kids about the past for it is on the backs of those in our past that our future is built. Just don't teach like it is 1999. We are closer to 2020 than we are to 2010. What have you done to prepare your classroom and yourself as a professional for the future?
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