In my first period class, I felt like I was in my "niche". The dictionary says a niche is "a cranny, hollow, or crevice, as in rock", and during this wonderful class I felt like I was comfortably ensconced in such a place. Teaching can be similar to scaling the wall of a cliff, and it's reassuring to come upon a place - a class -- that's like a niche in the cliff, where you can rest and be comfortable and feel like you know exactly what you are doing. Later in the day, in other classes, I may feel totally exposed on the side of a dangerous cliff, but for 48 minutes in the first period of the day I felt safe and content in a protected place.
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It's very strange to me that I can go many days without noticing some very important things in my classes. For example, today I happened to notice the girl who was quietly doing the "serving" at the beginning of class. (Many years ago I started providing small refreshments for students, and it has now become a tradition.) While the class was reading quietly, she was efficiently moving from student to student, bringing drinks and passing cookies. It was a beautiful thing to see, and I wondered why I hadn't noticed it before.
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I had an especially delicious lunch today — cold cooked broccoli and ham slices with mayonnaise, plus a wonderful sesame seed bagel with butter spread over it, followed by six perfect strawberries dipped in powdered sugar. As I quietly ate in my classroom with spring sunshine streaming through the windows, I felt myself being slowly revitalized for the upcoming afternoon classes.
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