My students (and a colleague, top) in the White Mountains, New Hampshire

ONE YEAR WITH AN ENGLISH TEACHER

Days 20-23, October 2-5

Yesterday I returned from a fairly perfect four day trek in the White Mountains with 27 eighth grade students. Everything seemed tailor-made for our small band of hikers. The weather was the proper weather for a forest trek in autumn (cool, clear, and lightly breezy), the trees were fittingly dressed for October, and the spirits of we students and teachers were as fresh and free as the breezes we felt. We were a cheerful group right from the start. There seemed to be a constantly festive mood among us, whether we were eating snacks on the trail, scrambling up sheer trails, or resting in satisfaction at the summits of Carter Dome and Mt. Hight. Wherever we were from Tuesday through Friday, we all seemed glad to be there. I, for one, simply felt lucky. How, I wondered, was I so fortunate to be a teacher at a school that takes young people into the great kingdom of the wilderness? It seemed providential that I, of all the billions of people on earth, was somehow selected to be with these ebullient people among these rousing mountains.