You're Always Thinking

My children had the greatest conversation at dinner yesterday. They were discussing the fact that you're always thinking; even when you sleep. They argue that if you're not thinking, you're dead. I think they must be getting thinking confused with breathing, but I loved their thoughtful conversation nonetheless.

I was talking to a coworker the other day about the fact that my own children love reading. They're in 3rd grade this year and they think homework is fun too.  Where is the breakdown in that thinking? As a middle school teacher of 13 years, I don't see a lot of teens who love to read and find homework enjoyable.  There must come a time in a child's life when something changes that way of thinking. And I'm anxious to know what that life changing event is. But I'm not too anxious as that would mean my own children no longer have the passion for learning that they do at this time.

I noticed in the copy room at my school the other day that as an introduction to the school year activity, a teacher had run off worksheets for the students to create their own record. Really? My guess is that they don't even know what a record is.  Not to be critical, but the original looked like it had come from a ditto machine and the assignment was ancient; prehistoric to today's middle-schooler. So I would gather that they wouldn't dive into this assignment, feel eager to complete it, or very comfortable in the environment in which it was presented.  Maybe it's at that point that children no longer feel eager to learn.

Just some jumbled thoughts that I've been thinking and wanting to write about.