Two years ago, I suffered through an awful school year. I was teaching an extremely ambitious curriculum and students were resentful. They pushed back. We seldom had fun. Bell-to-bell instruction with an aggressive learning plan can backfire.

Eduhonesty: I’m getting concerned. The world’s too wacky out here. You can’t just decide to teach anybody anything. First you need to figure out what they know and then you can go from there. The regular teachers in my district are hanging in with the new curriculum for the most part, although a number have expressed concern about how behind they are. It’s the first week. The special education and bilingual teachers mostly appear to be drowning, a neat trick seven days into the school year.

At a staff meeting awhile back, a colleague blurted out his solution to the latest educational crisis.

“Marijuana!” he said loudly.

I don’t think that will solve our problems. I’m not sure marijuana would do teachers in my district any harm, though. Operating this far outside of my student’s zone of understanding, I might as well be speaking Klingon or simply babbling at times. If I stopped making sense, would anyone notice?