Teachers juggle a lot: multiple classes, school responsibilities, communication with parents, and enough self care to keep from losing it. 

Robert Astuni, English teacher, juggles even more. Literally. 

Almost 30 years ago, Astuni taught himself how to juggle beanbags. At the time, his job involved selling books. One was a book about juggling that came with small beanbags. He read the book, followed the instructions, and taught himself the skill. 

One thing Astuni said about learning how to juggle from a book is ¨Following steps is important, whether it’s learning how to juggle, writing an essay, or building a car.¨ 

Astuni wanted to learn how to juggle because it provided him a way to take care of some downtime as well as display a product (the book) that was in the store where he worked. 

Astuni rates his skill level for juggling at “average.” Astuni said, ¨I’m not grabbing chainsaws or flaming axes or anything like that.¨ He likes to juggle with tennis balls more than anything else because they are good size and if he drops one it will bounce back up to him.  

Although he has not taught anyone to juggle yet, Astuni said he has had a few people ask him how. When he explains steps that he took to learn, they tend to lose focus and not follow through. 

“I don’t have any advice, but what I would have is common sense. Don’t juggle something that you could drop and never get back. Don’t juggle your keys over a sewer grate. Just like anything else, take your time and focus on yourself and you can achieve your goal. That’s more of a life lesson than a juggling lesson but still useful.¨