I start each morning with a daily devotional.  One morning last week, the theme was the importance of balance in our lives.  “There are people who get out of balance in everything: from not sleeping, to sleeping too much; from not cleaning their house, to trying to keep it so clean that nobody can move in it.  Find balance; balance keeps your day going right.”

I make an honest effort every day to balance my school life with my life outside of school.  I hope to never become one of those people who define who they are by what they do.  I try to live each day as the late Jim Valvano taught us, “…there are three things we should all do every day.  We should do this every day of our lives.  Number one is laugh.  You should laugh every day.  Number two is think.  You should spend some time in thought.  And number threee is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be of happiness or joy.  But think about it.  If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day.  That’s a heck of a day.  You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.”

When I look at the time my students spend in school each day, I have to think about their balance.  Do they get the chance to laugh, to think, and be moved emotionally?  Do they wake up each morning wondering about the day ahead?  Or do they wake up knowing it will be another You Tube, another powerpoint, another worksheet, just like yesterday, and just like tomorrow?

They come into the building each morning filled with wonder, hopes, and dreams.  Will they have the chance to create, to connect, and to collaborate?  Will they have the chance to craft the questions?  Will they get to discover answers, or will they spend too much time regurgitating answers already known?  Will we be so focused on their academic growth, that we neglect their their social needs?  Where is the balance in thier day with us?

It is my hope that most will leave each day knowing not that they are wanted at school.  But that they are needed.  And that they matter.