Skip to main content

A Study in The Adventures of the Dissatisfied Consulting Music Specialist of the Baskervilles (or something like that...)

Here's a big shocker: I'm a Sherlock Holmes fan.


I mean the A.C. Doyle stories. Robert Downey Jr. and The Great Mouse Detective. Guys, there's even a Super Mario Bros. Super Show episode that's Sherlock themed, and it's great. 

And then there's Sherlock.

BBC Sherlock.

Naturally, since series 4 just started, I've been thinking about it more than usual and I came to a realization. I'm Sherlock-shooting-the-wall-bored with what I'm doing. Originally, I was just dissatisfied with the lack of respect I was feeling. I wanted to pack up my toys and take them to play with someone who would appreciate how awesome they were. But what I'm doing now is too small for me. I've become complacent. I need to find a new challenge because I've done all I can here.



In that particular scene (The Great Game, S1, E3), Sherlock is disappointed with the criminal class - they're so mundane. He needs a challenge, a criminal mastermind to equal his brilliance. A puzzle to solve. A knot to untangle. This is the episode where we meet Jim Moriarty. (Hiiiii.) 

My current job is full of Watsons. I need an educational Moriarty. 

The Watsons let me shine. Maybe they used to empower me. Fill in the gaps that my arrogance leaves. Give me some free reign, but explain when something might be...questionable. Pick up after me when I do it anyway. I'm a Sherlock. I'd be lost without Watsons and they me - nothing works without the two of them together. But nothing works for Sherlock unless he has a good foil.

[source]
The students and curriculum aren't my foil. In this analogy, they must be the cases that come to me. And obviously I'm not the antithesis of education (Notice how I don't say anything about specific Cabinet picks out loud?), so it's not that. It's this: "every fairy tale needs a good old-fashioned villain."

Is the villainy the lack of time I have with kids? The people who don't think I'm more than a Very Fancy Babysitter? I don't think so. It's not advocacy I need. I need to be working with students in whatever capacity I'm given. Sherlock is at his best when his ingenuity is put to the test, and when the problem is clever.

Teaching is a dazzling puzzle everyday. There's not a lack of enjoyable trickiness in what I love to do. I think it's just that, like Sherlock, I get a little unhinged when things are too similar. I think I've solved all the cases here. It's time for a new set of puzzles.

I need something...sooo changeable.

Something ready to burn the heart out of me.



I'm not ready to start keeping bees yet.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A List That Actually Matters

I sort of wanted to give this post a cutesy title, like "My Edu-Valentines," but I'm incredibly serious about this. Yesterday, two of my favorite people on the planet, people I like and admire, were included in an exceedingly disappointing list of inspirational educators . (excuse me, "educationists.") They were both livid. As they should have been. The list was lily white and lacking women. Most of the people were not actually  teachers - which you know, makes them a lot less inspirational to those of us who spend our days surrounded with the bright future of the world. AND THEN, after being called out for the poor quality of the list, the author - who is not a teacher, but a "blogger and digital marketing biz" person and moderator of #GuruChats - about branding (of which I have  many thoughts ) - asked for suggestions to improve it. Okay, the first one is do your homework, don't run an algorithm. But then I took a couple of moments to sc...
2 comments
Read more

Change: I Fear It

Full disclosure: I'm considering beating things with hammers. Photo credit No, but for real. I'm a great teacher. I love sharing the joy of learning with anyone I meet. I can't help but teach people things. (and not just because I know a billion random facts about everything, but because everything is connected!) I like to inspire people. I like to make people work harder and get better and enjoy the process and grow and change and I create run-on sentences because I get so excited about teaching and learning that I can't breathe. But I'm kind of hating teaching right now. I don't hate the kids. Not at all. They're smiley and noisy and an entertaining challenge every 30 minutes. Sure, they can be really frustrating - I'd be lying if I said they weren't - but I still feel like they are coming to school for the right reasons. Obviously, it's compulsory, but they come with these eager faces. They're all shiny and ready. They're, ...
1 comment
Read more

Wishing for Trouble

 I didn't get in trouble today, and that's a problem. The day is young. There's still time. And I'm sure that my parent letter tomorrow will be met with resistance from several readers. But I should have gotten in trouble today. I was already worried yesterday about how to approach yesterday's treasonous insurrection with my students. Like you may know, though I'm in the middle of my career, this is the first time I've been a grade-level teacher with a classroom of students of my own. You also may know that I'm in a very conservative part of a very conservative state - my neighbor, a Guatemalan immigrant, still has his Idahoans for Trump flag flying proudly because he's white. My other neighbor, who is a Vietnamese immigrant also complains about the "immigrants who are stealing our jobs" when I see her at the mailbox. That's where I'm from. There's the context about what America looks like for some of you who might not see how d...
Post a Comment
Read more