Monday, March 26, 2007

The Benefits of Lost Luggage

So, the guy who processed my claim of lost luggage after my 3-legged journey home last night told me Chicago (where I'd just been) was a mess after three days of poor visibility and subsequent delays.

Turns out that translates to mean, "Your bag's with thousands of others and we're not sure when we're going to get it all sorted out."

As I was heading to my mom's, I wasn't worried. I've remnants of clothes from as far back as high school stocked away in my closet. Nothing I ever planned to wear again, but no polyester leisure suits either.

The interesting part, the part that truly signals my nerd-dom is that I have been in my Christmas PJs the entire day. They were the first things I found when I opened the closet door and they suited me just fine. They also put me in the mindset to stay in bed and read all day - ALL DAY.

It's been wonderful. As predicted, I finished The New Brain on my second flight and am not mid-way through Henry Jenkins' Convergence Culture. Interesting stuff, I'm bracketing, underlining and annotating my way through it. I'll have a more thoughtful post when I finish it tomorrow.

This is really not a thinking type post, but I didn't want to get out of the habit. Now the world knows my luggage's lost. Finally, empathy.

More later.


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1 comment:

Steve Cantees said...

It is certainly an interesting phenomenon when teachers are freed from their perceived constraints of standardized testing to really teach. I have witnessed the same this year and it is gratifying to see teachers enjoying their craft so much. Although we typically see high engagement at this school I wonder why we wait until post-test to stretch ourselves as teachers?

The new standardized tests are less rote recitation and more higher order performance tasks so high engagement work is essential for student success. I believe part of it is mindset and habit and the other is the pressure of teaching students in a school full of striving learners. I believe we try to do as much for them as possible so the students will be successful.

Maybe we can strike the happy medium somewhere. Good thoughts, Zac. Enjoy break.