The art of teaching....

I once heard the analogy that teaching was like flying a plane while you are still building the plane.  I have found that thought refreshing and amusing.  As I reflect on my first year teaching, I find that is utterly true.  What I realized what how much I didn't know and how many decisions I would have to make every single day.  Can the students use mechanical pencils?  How should they head their papers?  What do I write under comments on their report cards?  I quickly realized that I didn't know.  So I tried some things out- some worked, some did not.  But what I learned (and then shared with my students) is teaching (like learning and life) is not straight forward.  Sometimes you know but sometimes you don't.  We all make great mistakes but we, also, have great successes.