planting seeds

My first grade class is doing a science unit on planting seeds. I love their amazement at seeing the plants grow. In many ways it is magical, and a source of wonderment for them. While my class is at specialists, ( phy. ed, art, media, or music)I get an hour to myself. Many times I have a student in the room helping clean tables as a consequence for misbehaving. Often, this helps me build a relationship with some of the more difficult students in my room. This week I had one young girl in my room because she wrote the names of a few students on the table, and had some choice words to say about them.

After she cleaned the tables, I asked her if she showed her family the spider plant she brought home. She responded by telling me that her mom would be taking care of it while she was at school everyday. While her response was adorable, it was also profound. At her age, she was given ownership over something, and felt responsibility towards it.

These kids continually blow me away. Two of my most challenging students were suspended for 3 days this week. I strangely missed them. They are 7. I hope good things for them.

We walked to the park as a class yesterday and the students picked up litter along the way to celebrate Earth Day.

28 young humans that I am entrusted with every day. They are just a tiny sliver of the world's population. They are bright, and eager to learn. One young girl in the class had been in 4 foster homes, before getting placed back with her birth mother. Her resiliency is incredible. She reads at a 3rd grade level. She is so kind, and includes everyone.

I often feel undeserving of this opportunity to spend with these children. It has been a gift. I feel exhausted and energized if that is possible. I am never bored, and continually struck by their abilities.

One of the greatest virtues of gardening is this perpetual renewal
of youth and spring, of promise of flower and fruit that can always
be read in the open book of the garden, by those with an eye to
see, and a mind to understand.
- E.A. Bowles

May the beauty of what you love be what you do-RUMI

I love this quote. I LOVE IT.

I've kind of abandoned blogging lately.
Teaching is exhausting. I have no idea what it would be like to have my own child 24 hours a day. I do know that having 28 kids in one classroom is a lot. I love it. I really do, but many days I feel so incredibly tired at the end.
This past week was good, really good. My character has been tested so much in the past 2 weeks.
I have been challenged by what it means to live in Western culture, but to seek community in powerful ways. Often song lyrics say things like "This is the air I breather, this is my daily bread." I have been challenged to discover what it means to say "This is the air WE breathe, this is our daily bread." We belong to each other.

One funny kid story.. I have many each day, but I'll give you one...
I asked my students if they had gone anywhere for spring break. One student told me he went o Wisconsin. I said "I went to Wisconsin too!" He looked dumbfounded and said "Well, i didn't' see you there."

Sherry's new lease on life!

My neighbor and friend, Sherry received a new kidney yesterday. Our landlord was a match!

Watch the video here

out of the mouths of babes

I've decided that I am going to begin posting some stories from my first grade classroom. I will keep names confidential. Most of the stories will be lighthearted, funny, and bring insight into this hilarious group of 26 kids.

Yesterday was a particularly rough day, where I was fed up with 4 of the students in my class who have the biggest behavioral problems. I got to the end of the day, and began to just sob. I care about these kids so much. Our school has a very high poverty rate. Many contextual factors influence these kids as they walk in the door to my room. I decided today was a new day and I was goign to go in confident and ready to teach.

For Black History month, I have been reading a book about a different black person each day. Today, I read the childrens book "Barack."
One of the pages in the book compared him to a modern Martin Luther King Jr. It was talking about the obstacles Dr. King had to help us overcome, and how Obama has had to help our nation overcome battles today. The book was talking about the civil rights movement and how schools used to be segregated.

One of the little girls in my class whom we will call M raised her hand with a question: How come schools are supposed to be places where we learn to be kind to each other, and the white people back then went to school and learned to be mean to black people? She then proceeded to say, if we are all supposed to get along, why would they ever separate kids learning by their skin color? She then said "It just doesn't make sense."

If I understood the root of the questions, she was trying to figure out why people would grow up to be so cruel. It was hard for a 7 year old to grasp that schools used to be so segregated. Sadly, some still are today in the inner city. The school I work at, thankfully is fairly diverse representing a spectrum of cultures.

I responded by telling M that her question was quite profound. I tried my best to explain that we are supposed to love but some people have hate in their hearts. I am still reeling with thoughts about this question...

tea talk.

Prescence-1. The state or fact of being present; current existence or occurrence.
2. Immediate proximity in time or space.
3. The area immediately surrounding a great personage, especially a sovereign.
4. A person who is present.

I've had the joy of being apart of Sherry's life for almost 5 years now. I knew her before moving into my house, and now she has lived directly below me for 3 years. She often comes up for tea, and we talk about life. These moments are sacred. Our converstations range from a serious tone discussing hard situations that we are in, to the hilarious moments of our day. This morning she came up; I heated the water , handed her a spoon, the sugar bowl, and a mug. I sipped my coffee, she sipped her tea. We talked about her oldest daughter who is expecting a baby this spring. We talked about my first grade classroom, and the funny stories from the week. She told me more about her anxieties that she has for the kidney transplant taking place in two weeks. ( Our landlord is giving her his kidney!) During the ebb and flow of our conversation her 5 year old, Delone, came upstairs, and her 1 year old grandbaby, Yonathan. She looked over at them and said to me "Just think you met Delone when he was Yonnie's age." As I looked at Sherry's face, and took in her features, I was overtaken by our friendship. She has changed my life. She has transformed the way I look at loving others. This woman, who undergoes dialysis 3 mornings per week has taken in 2 of her relatives kids, and is anticipating being the primary caregiver for her newest grandchild. Her precense is quiet, she often seems tired, but her face radiates with peace.

With warm beverages in hand, we talk sometimes for 20 minutes, other times for a few hours. We've shared tears with each other. Some tears were a result of laughter, and some were from moments that are painful and messy. We have celebrated birthdays, Thanksgiving, Easter, and Christmas together. We have had many backyard BBQ's. I've seen her son drum at pow-wows, and her daughter proudly display her Native jingle dress dancing to the beat. We knock on each other's doors asking for sugar, or butter if we are out. I've seen her in the hospital when her health hasn't been very good. I've seen her tears, after pouring our concerns she has for her children. I've seen the look she gives to her children when her heart is welling up with gratitude for them. I've sought advice from her on life situations, work, boys, and much more. When their is a knock at the door most of the time I can guarantee it is Sherry seeing who is around for tea.

I met Savannah, Sherry's youngest the day she came home from the hospital. I have never known any other person through all of their developmental stages. She is such a beautiful little girl. Many of the women who have lived in this house have been deemed her "aunties."

Sherry, I am thankful you are present in my life. Our tea talks are one of the biggest blessings in my life.


( Savannah as a baby)

( Savannah on her 3rd birthday 12/09)





Yonnie- age 1. ( The age Delone was when I met him.)



( Delone-age 5)