GOING ON

There's always a lot "going on" in my classes, and, even if some of the goings-on have more to do with student daydreams than with English, I'm happy to know that nothing stands still in my classes. In fact, nothing stands still anywhere at anytime, and so my always lively English classes simply share in the customary business of the universe. If my students and I are constantly “going” somewhere during class, it’s only because it’s what all of life does. We are part of an ever-energetic cosmos, so we have no choice but to go, go, and go. Bear in mind that my “lively” classes are not necessarily fascinating or successful, and surely occasionally fall into the doldrums of sheer dreariness, but still, something is always going on. Thoughts, for one, can’t help but going on, moment after moment after moment. If the number and variety of our thoughts during class could somehow be portrayed on a screen, it would show something like the flashing and signaling of the endless stars above us. True, our thoughts might be far off course from the lesson and may be bizarre and even crazy-sounding, but they’re definitely “going on” – easily and ingeniously, from second to second for the full 48 minutes. Of course, along with our steady streams of thoughts, our bodies are also sharing in the incessant goings-on of the classroom. Our blood is reborn with new oxygen with each passing second, new air steadily enlivens our lungs, and our skin’s cells are replaced by fresh ones almost constantly. We have no choice. It’s not up to us. As we sit or stand in English class, everything is going on, continuously and refreshingly -- and, for us, fortunately.