My gift to you this week. Take a breath. Take the time you would have used to write this post and do something nice for yourself. Get down into the Happy Baby pose. Go for a walk in the woods. Meditate. Color in your Hello Kitty coloring book. Pour yourself a glass of wine. Watch an episode of "The Simpsons." Just make sure that it contributes to your renewal and not your depletion, okay?
Peace, Young Ninjas.
8 comments:
Thanks Dr. Cook. I thought I'd share this video with everyone...it made me happy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM
Kate-
This is such an inspiring film. Few things make me happier than seeing and hearing the world make music together. Music is what will get us closer to peace, I believe. It's something we all have in common and something that makes us take a breath, makes us stop the chaos for a minute, makes us take notice and listen. Thank you for sharing this with us! A gift!
A Haiku for Teachers
Always on the spot
Connect, reflect, improve, teach
Must eat crackers now
So, I need to share what just happened in a single classroom in 90 minutes at Hope High School. It was not my class, it is Christina's advisory. Many of my students compose the group, but I am not their teacher that period.
Christina started by telling them about the upcoming Homecoming events and how important it is that they all get their behavior up in order to keep events for next year. It was amongst talking about what the events would be and how they needed to have more school spirit, that came the discussion of "Why isn't there a freshmen student council?" And...well...we didn't have much of an answer. THE STUDENTS DECIDED THEY WERE GOING TO THE PRINCIPAL AT LUNCH TODAY AND BRINGING THIS UP TO HIM. Christina guided them to make a list for a proposal to give to him. The students came up with a list of 10 things that they want the council to do, including fundraisers for students with disabilities, community service, and trying to get the program for job help that we have been talking about in class! They spent the rest of the time talking about their lives, and how teenagers are getting into gangs for stupid reasons. A lot of them came foward with information they haven't told many people. By the end of class, they were united, and they had a place to meet at lunch. One student (Izzy) is going to be the one who speaks to the principal with the whole group behind him. He is SUCH a good politician (I swear he'll run for president someday, and I'll be voting for him). By the time the bell rang to signal the end of the 90 minutes, a transformation had occured, we had a group hug, 14 year old boys were crying and hugging eachother. It was a beautiful thing.
I hate when people judge teens, and say they have no idea. They do...they have more of an idea than some adults I know. And after today, after watching these students for 90 minutes...I know the future of the world is going to be okay.
I hope you all get to experience something like this at somepoint in your teaching careers. I will never forget today, or these studnets.
Charlene,
That sounds amazing! I'm so happy you got to witness that. I think advisory has the potential for great things (like your class seems to be doing). I can't stand the "required" topics the higher ups have decided teachers should discuss with students. Every advisory the students have some pretty interesting questions/topics that they want to discuss because there is no other appropriate place for it. I was amazed to hear questions about sex (birth control questions mostly) coming from 11th graders who apparently are not learning about it (responsibly) anywhere else. Questions about jobs, college, abortion, hateful words, etc. I think it's really beneficial for students to be able to discuss and learn about life issues in an academic setting where they're less likely to feel stupid for asking questions than they would be if they were hanging out with friends.
thanks for the break! nice haiku rich!
Kate-
I totally agree with you! It was great to watch these students form their own "family" and the great news is that they went down to the principal, and he told them to gather a group of students by next Wednesday and he'd meet with them! I knew the principal wouldn't turn it down, but he mentioned Hope being one of the only high schools to offer the students help in getting jobs and my student said "I know, we read about it in Ms. Chevrette's class. But that's only for juniors! We need the help too!" I could not have been more proud! After the principal walked away, my student turned around and gave me a HUGE hug, and thanked me, and I just said "No, that was all you...so I thank YOU because in 20 years I am still going to remember this day!" And his eyes started to water again.
I guess we can just never loose sight of the moments we teach for.
Beautiful, folks. Even when I give you permission to take a break, you amaze me with your hopefulness and ability to see through the bullshit to what matters. YAY! Looking forward to tonight.
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