I'm still out of shape. It happened slowly, over the course of a few years. It started out running (more like jogging) half a mile and even then, I ended up winded. However, after six months of running and weight-lifting, I'm getting closer to being in ship. It takes time to get back into shape. I'm working on the third revision of
Keeper of the Creatures. It happened slowly with tons of mistakes. I changed the main character, took out entire subplots and re-organized the main plot. I wanted to be done by July, but that's not going to happen. It takes time to write a novel. When I see people who make music or write novels or restore cars, I am struck by the huge investment of time required to pull it off. It's a simple concept -- one that probably doesn't require a blog post to explain it. However, it's also something counterintuitive in a culture of novelty. We live in a land where one's voice can travel across the world in a split second and where our food can be ready by placing it in a box for thirty seconds. But the truth is that things take time. So, it has me thinking about teaching. Sometimes I get frustrated that I'm coming up on a decade and I'm still making huge mistakes. I feel like I should be closer to my utopian dreams. And yet, just like learning to play an instrument or writing a novel, the journey takes time and has pockets of boredom and frustration. It has me thinking, too, about students. Perhaps the best part of project-based learning is that they learn to slow down a little. They learn that learning isn't simply a set of short assignments, quickly assigned, finished and graded. Instead, they learn that learning takes time and that projects (all projects) require frustrating moments where parts are boring and frustrating. In the process, though, they realize that anything valuable takes time. And that's a beautiful thing to know in a culture of novelty. photo credit:
kaneda99 via
photopin cc
