Ignoring the topic

How lame is it that I chose the topic and don't want to write about it? Probably no lamer than the fact that I've been officially labeled the uncool kid in here, becoming a special project of Wes and Rebecca to cool me up. (For some reason that reminds me of a really old cheerleading chant about "Wind me up," "wind" as in the verb, not the noun.)

Fruit and sugar, by the way, is an excellent mix. Sugar should be added to more things: education, Fox News, coffee, sour dispositions. Not too much, not enough to overpower the original substance, just to add a hint of sweetness, the same kind of sweetness and concern shining in Lincoln's eyes in the picture from yesterday's demo.

"A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down"--perhaps that 's a motto for BWP. If you can sneak education into classes without students realizing it because they are engaged in the process, you're an excellent teacher. Okay, brainstorm . . . we can do a riff on the You Might Be a Redneck list but do You Might Be a BWP Teacher:

• If you can ignore the uninformed policies and focus on what you can change in your classroom and for your students, you might be a BWP teacher.
• If you can understand the connecting between caring for people and helping people learn, you might be a BWP teacher.
• If you can write memos, research several topics, draft memoirs and poems, respond extensively to the writing of others, provide breakfast, help with lunch, connect to people in various disciplines, focus on the positive, revise extensively, laugh at yourself, and care passionately about education, you might be a BWP teacher.
• If you can try new things and not chastise yourself when they don't work, you might be a BWP teacher.
• If you can build bridges rather than ostracize those who disagree with you, you might be a BWP teacher.
• If you can form community with strangers (both people you don't know and people who might be a tad strange), you might be a BWP teacher.
• If you can multi-task by eating breakfast, writing in your notebook, keeping an eye on what people are doing, and staying at least partially sane, you might be a BWP teacher.

Okay, I'm curious. What would you add to my list?