We are all Becoming

My nephew has his MFA from the University of Kentucky. He also studied at the University of North Florida. He is an artist, an art teacher, a sculpter. When he and his family were moving to Kentucky to study, he had some paintings he was "releasing". One was this one.

I love this painting and it hung in our home for a while. One day my niece offered to take it back to her husband and have him finish it. "Oh no," I said... "What I love about it is that is in unfinished." I now call it "The Unfinished Bird." We are all unfinished really. I had taught 6th graders for about a month, in September of 2022. Around the third week I was feeling frustrated with them, their behaviors towards one another, towards mathematics (I was a math teacher.) and I was on my way to Raleigh and Charlotte to a conference and a meeting. On the way I was listening to a radio station (106.9) that provides podcasts in the morning hours. Every podcast I listened to reminded me that we, that our colleagues, that our children "are not done yet." Of course I thought, We are all in a state of "becoming". It was as if I was reminded over and over an over again that we, as teachers, should never forget, that the children we are working with are not who they will be... and we have the amazing gift to nurture them with knowledge, and skills, and by modeling and creating communities of care and inspiration to work together to learn more and make the world a better place. So my "unfinished bird" reminds me everyday that my students are not done yet; and neither am I. My "unfinished bird" gives me permission to take risks, to fail, and to learn from mistakes. My "unfinished bird" is a reminder to all of us... that we are all becoming. 1/13/2022