cairns

I got a thank you note from a mom.  I appreciate it, I really do.  But, still it bothers me.

See, all I did was make arrangements for her daughter to stay in my room while I take the rest of the kids to the bus.  She waits in my room.  The other daycare kids get to their assigned places and calm down.  Then she has at least a chance to join them without getting in trouble.  I know why she and her mom appreciate it, she has been in trouble in daycare a lot lately.  But, all I did was give her permission to sit in my room a few extra minutes!  Today she even straightened the place up for me, and I didn’t ask!

I appreciate it anytime somebody in our rush-about culture takes time to say thank you.  I just wish acts that simple and small were too common  among those who take care of kids to rate a thank you!

peace

1 Comment »

The kids did great.  They took the math test with confidence in spite of teachers all over the place saying that the material covered is too hard.  Just took their time and answered everything they knew.  I hate doing tests when we could be learning so much instead, especially since we already know who can do what. But, the kids took it right in stride.

Near the end of the second session today, I looked over at one of the girls.  She was frustrated, but working until she was sure she had done all she knew, then switched to reading a library book.  At the beginning of the year, she froze up completely when confronted with tests or difficult assignments.  Now she competes with the identified gifted kids.  Forget the fact that others have more than she does, she is becoming resilient.  I know what I need to know.  She is going to be fine.

We finished up, had lunch, discussed serious issues of the Vietnam War (and Sam’s book), then started playing with Newton’s laws of motion.  My little charges were engaged, interested, and shifted into full gear on each part of the day.  What a gift to hang out with kids!

peace

1 Comment »

I have been working with him all year. He is content to fail. I am not content to allow it. And slowly he has begun to work with me, to turn in assignments, and to succeed.

Now he was sitting in the office and I had taken him there. The day before a girl went home with an eye injury from a thrown object in a room with a substitute teacher. He did not throw the object that did the damage, but he was one of the throwers. Now he has been giving a colleague trouble all morning, is reported to have threatened her, and I have caught him with a pocketful of air-soft bb’s, the same thing he was throwing yesterday. The other teacher comes in and starts reporting her problems with him. He figures out he really is in trouble and begins to become angry. He remains seated but his fists double up. I have warned him repeatedly that as a large black male, he cannot afford displays of anger in our system.

Now, I have a problem as a prosecutor. He needs rescuing again, and nobody else in the school or his home is available. There has been precious little evidence that anyone stands in his corner to be there. The two teachers now accusing him are the two people who have done the most to try to reach him. And, he is about to blow it. Another suspension will eliminate any chance he has to finish the year successfully. So, I step over and softly but firmly remind him that he is making fists and guaranteeing more serious consequences. He slowly, as if with true effort, uncoils both hands and sits there with both arms out hands open palms up. As I left him there sad, wrong, but prepared to cope and return another day, I wondered. Does my savior feel this way with me? Rescuing again, uncoiling my anger, showing me the way back from my own failure again, and again? (He made it through the situation.)

Then today there is a young lady, poor achievement levels and grades, but polite and hard working. She works for me, does the assignments, struggles for test points and adds extra credit when she can. Her voice is seldom heard above the more boisterous members of her class. We are finishing two days of sharing “How to” essays with the class. We have heard a long string of papers on how to cook, play sports, or earn good grades. I see that she has a paper ready and call her forward to ask, “What are you going to teach us how to do?”

How to kill a monkey! Apparently if one comes home to find a monkey in the house, it is wise to acquire two bananas and a baseball bat. After luring the monkey into the living room and giving him one banana you will be able to dispatch him with the bat. Then you can eat the second banana in peace!

I laughed until I cried. Her grammar still needs work and her paper is not the neatest. It is even questionable under my rules for “school appropriate topics.” But, it is my favorite. She has made my week with her burst of creative humor. And I wonder if my Savior ever feels the same? As he works with my slow learning, re-learning, and hope for extra credit, do I ever make him laugh? I wonder.

peace

Comments Off

One of my daughter’s friends responded to my participation in Earth Hour by saying, “whatever makes him comfortable driving  his gas guzzling car!”  Then I saw this AP image on AOL.  Maybe next year we could try shutting off the engines for an hour?

peace

Comments Off

Several years ago Phil Schlechty and his Center for Leadership in School Reform had a major impact on many people’s thinking about quality in teaching.  One of his main points was that teaching is not about the show the teacher puts on up front, but about the work the student does.  In many ways, it was a beneficial addition to ed-speak and thought.

I am now watching as students from elementary school to grad school crank out “the work.”  Some of them work for speed, for praise, or for the high quality products Schlechty would encourage.  What I do not see in nearly enough cases is students working to understand something new, to gain new information or understanding of their world.  We do not actually grade knowledge and wisdom.  We grade the work.  So they care about the work.  Just tell me my work is good enough and leave me alone.

My poor fifth graders are beginning to get the picture.  They have landed in the room of a lunatic who believes education is about knowing, questioning, remembering, evaluating, growing, and engaging the world in more meaningful ways.  They want me to settle for saying it is about the work, and then what level of work I will settle for.  Poor kids, I want their minds, their hearts, even their souls.

No Phil, it is not about the work.  It is about encountering the universe.

peace

Comments Off