Choose Wisely 2In the course of one week, years ago, I heard two wildly different comments.

The first comment was from a highly respected colleague that had just built a house with a special alcove in the bedroom where she could sit and grade papers all night. Every. Night. (cue horror movie music). There was a big comfy chair with short tables on either side. In pile and out pile. “Here is where I spend most of my time,” she said. She diligently corrected errors each night and handed those red marked papers back to students the next day. Every. Day.

The other was a casual side comment from Blaine Ray, who said that he worked hard at engaging students in class and he was done teaching at 3:00 every day. He didn’t spend any more time than that at school. He went to play golf after school and then he went home to eat dinner with his family.

I made a decision right then and there.

Can you guess which one I chose to model myself after? Can you guess which one is still actively training language teachers? Can you guess which one is still married? Can you imagine which one has made a bigger impact?

Choose wisely, my friends.