I was thinking about hats the other day, and started me thinking about George Carlin, and that led me to Louis CK speaking in honor of Carlin at a memorial service. You can see Louis’ comments on youtube.
At 4:20 on the video Louis starts to discuss Carlin’s ability to toss out old material, starting out fresh every year. I think about this idea in my teaching. It is not quite the same of course. I don’t toss out everything I’ve said about Taming of the Shrew, searching for entirely new ideas. But I do try to think freshly and deeper each time I approach a work, topic, or assignment. One of my pleasures over the last decade has been teaching English Language and Grammar and creating entirely new examinations three or four times each term. Those tests are challenging to write, but they keep me honest, and focused on the class and topic at hand. I can only test what I know I have taught and the students should have learned. Increasingly I try to use this same evergreen approach in each class that I teach.