Every now and again I think of possible standup routines in my head.  Perfect setups and punchlines that I think I stand a decent shot of delivering to a forgiving crowd.  It’s not that I truly have aspirations of the career, but rather that teaching affords the same brand of ups and downs as it does a struggling comedian.  Clawing for your audience’s attention.  Managing the occasional heckler.  Finishing a joke with brutal silence.  And then suiting up tomorrow for another set, succeed or fail, or fail harder.  Teachers, by choice or by force, are performers.  Which is why I can’t help but do this:

And by choice or by force, my kids sit through this.  Every now and again.