Rocky Mountain High

John Denver wrote Rocky Mountain High long before Colorado began selling marijuana legally.  There is a conspiracy theory that Denver’s “secret message” in the song was that smoking pot would take you to “places” you have never been before.  Of course, the ones contributing to that theory were enveloped in a cloud of cannabis smoke. John Denver wrote this song after seeing the beauty of life in the Rocky Mountains.  He saw this distinctly in the form of the annual Perseid Meteor Shower.  He was mesmerized by the shadows of the starlight and the meteor showers and the sight of “raining fire” in the sky.  It opened his eyes to something he didn’t know existed.  Denver was 27 years old at this time and he had just moved to Colorado.  Below is the first verse to the song. 

“He was born in the summer of his 27^th year, coming home to a place he’d never been before.

He left yesterday behind him, you might say that he was born again,

You might say he found a key for every door.”

I wonder just how many eyes we can open to something that they have never been able to do before.  I have interviewed hundreds of prospective teachers over the years and have asked them what the best part of teaching is.  The vast majority say something like this, “I love when kids get it; when the light bulb goes off.  That’s the best part.”  Is that the best part for you?  If it is, would you like to have more of those moments?  If so, realize that you must create those  “light bulb” moments.  Kids may come into their own, academically speaking, when WE CREATE the opportunity to do so.  We can take them, academically speaking, to places they have never been before.  We can get that “Rocky Mountain High” by challenging them at higher levels of understanding.  We can move them from stagnation and leave yesterday behind them by understanding where they are academically and moving them to higher levels.  We can provide awakening for them by showing them concepts that they have never seen and teach it in ways they have never been taught.  Innovating anyone?  We can show them that they “key” to opening up academic doors starts with an inspiring teacher who is excited about what they are presenting, engaging his or her students throughout lessons, and causing them to think beyond what they have already thought about.  Just like the light show that John Denver saw that night in 1972, we can turn on those “lightbulbs” that we desperately must seek.