I fear the shrinking of life that goes with aging. I fear the boredom that comes with not learning, not taking chances, not getting out on a limb of some kind - where the fruit is. I fear traveling around as a senior spectator just looking at stuff without being involved in it. I fear the dying that goes on inside when you get up from the game to sit in the waiting room for the final checkout line. No. I want the sharp pleasure of the anxious edge that comes from beginning something new that calls on all my resources and challenges my ego. I long for the excitement that comes from being able to say to a dancer, “I admire that. I want that. I do not know - teach me. I’ve come to learn.”
As I think of the many veteran teachers I've worked with, I don't see this same type of passion for learning about technology, or, perhaps, for anything else. I know they haven't always been this way, but they're feeling burned out, like they're counting the days until they can retire. Not all of them, but many of them. And sadly, when that light has gone out, it no longer shines for their students who are just learning how to learn, and who need to see the power of that passion for learning.
I wish I had a solution rather than just an observation.
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