On Teaching: KEEPING RECORDS

Yesterday I did a good job of recording some of the important things that happened in class. I kept track of which students made comments, and even what some of them said. I kept my small clipboard handy at my side, and simply wrote check marks and a few words now and then. Then, after class, I arranged some of the records so I could refer to them later. It felt good to be organized and efficient, almost as though I was placing the high points of each class in an orderly “file cabinet” for future reference. Surprisingly, I discovered this morning, in one of my dictionaries, that the word “record” derives from the Latin word for “heart”. When we record something, we, in a sense, place it “in our heart” – put it somewhere for safe keeping because we consider it special and valuable. We want to keep this event fresh in our memories – in our hearts – so we make a record of it. I’m going to remember this today when I’m trying to record the special things that happen in class. It’s all about the heart. It’s about realizing that many of the things that happen in my classroom are unique, special, and extraordinary, and that I need to hold them close to my heart – to record them so they last forever.