I heart libraries

This afternoon we took a quick trip to the public library.
Sometimes I forget that I'm back in the trusting country where free book-lending is available!  I can't even begin to tell you how happy a public library makes me.

Here's the book I can't wait to crack open:

Christopher Paul Curtis is right up there with Jerry Spinelli on my list of life-changing-I'll-read-anything-you-put-on-paper authors.

I'm going to go get started.

<3  Happy Tuesday.

My Power is Made Perfect in Weakness

In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul starts talking about boasting, and then how he was given a "thorn in [his] flesh" to torment him.  He said,

"Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Do you remember chain e-mails? They were so popular back when I was in high school it seems.  It's when you get an e-mail from someone you know, asking you to send something to someone at the top of the list of e-mail addresses, and then move the order of the names around and forward it on to a bunch of people you know.
Well I got a chain email, asking me to send my favorite verse to the person on the list.  If I had gotten the e-mail from anyone else but one of my very best friends, I would have probably deleted it and felt no remorse; what overworked teacher has time for chain emails?  But, I did get it from my bff, so I sent on a verse, and the instructions to ten friends and, yay!, got a verse in return.  It was the verse above.  2 Corinthians 12:9-10.
It came to me from a friend's mom.  She doesn't know me.
She doesn't know that the past four weeks of teaching has been more stressful than anything else I can remember facing.
She doesn't know that I lost 5 pounds after the school year started.
Or that stress gives me so much tension in my back that sometimes I can't sleep.
Or that many days I just come home and cry of exhaustion.
Or that weakness is basically all I seem to feel lately.  I am physically, emotionally, and spiritually weak.

So today I'm grateful for the times God works like invisible strings connecting the whole world together, bringing me exactly the right words from a mom who's not mine and who doesn't know what I'm doing.
I'm grateful for a friend who blogs about joy, and asks how often we've walked past opportunities for joy. (I wonder...)
I'm grateful for a list of ways to fight for joy, and for renewed strength to do so.
I'm grateful for friends who don't live too far away, who find the time to keep me sane.

May the Fourth

Some people are great listeners.  They really listen to you when you talk.  They are the kind of people that remember the details, even the ones you don't remember telling, and then think to ask you about them later.  I'm always pleasantly surprised when I meet, or discover that I already know, such a kindred spirit.

I'm realizing more and more that I'm not a great listener that most of the time.  Lots of us are good listeners when we really care, or when it really affects us, but not so much when we're preoccupied or uninterested.  I guess I'm more often in the latter category, unfortunately.
Sometimes I "listen," only to realize that I totally missed something important, and must embarrassingly cover my error before it's noticed.  That's no fun.

Lately, I'm terribly guilty of this with my students.  When a herd of nine-year-olds surrounds me at 7:20 in the morning with stories they desperately want to share, I find myself on autopilot... the Wow's and Oh No!'s and Really?'s pour out of my mouth without my really taking in much of what they're telling me.

Today, one of the brightest little boys I've ever known, let alone taught, persisted in asking me the same question.  "Have you seen Star Wars?" he asked a few times before taking off his backpack.  I mumbled a quick, "Umm, yea, kind of..." (or something like that) as I managed the 129 things being thrown at me.  He said something about the force being with me, and I gave him a fake laugh and continued whatever I was doing.
Later, he asked about Star Wars again and, once more, said something like, May the force be with you... and I think I responded with a weak connection to our recent science lesson about force.
Finally, as we all filed out of the room at the end of the day, he tried to bring up Star Wars another time.

For the first time, I actually listened.

"May the fourth be with you." 

THAT is what he'd been trying to tell me all along.  Today is May fourth.  May the fourth be with you.


So, my friends, may May the fourth ever be a reminder to you and to me--listen when people talk.

Oh The Places You'll Go

Today I read, "Oh The Places You'll Go" to my class.  One of my students, recently back from a trip to Universal, bought it in Seussville and wanted to share it in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday.  
It's been a while since I've read the book, and I really wasn't prepared for all the profundity it held for me.  

You see, today was the deadline to turn in contracts, or a letter stating your intent to not return.  It was a sad day amongst my closest Pinares friends and myself--those of us who, with heavy hearts, turned in letters, and not contracts. In two or three stiff, formal sentences it felt as if three of my most wonderful years came to an undramatic close. 
I'm sad. So sad to leave these children I've come to love so much, and these friends I can now call bests.  But even though I cry at the drop of a hat nowadays, thinking about leaving...I still don't see myself here next year.  I still feel like the decision to leave is right.  I feel peace.  Which is weird to say for someone who hides her tears from the bus kids almost every day (I don't know what it is--maybe the time it gives me to think--but I get choked up all the time on the bus lately; thinking about "my babies!")
I turned in my letter without any fuss... the secretary wasn't at her desk so I just dropped it off and left.  No questions, no talking... nada. I didn't think much about it after that, until Dr. Seuss had to barge in and spew profound nonsense at me.  At first, I did just fine as I read the last book Seuss published before he died. However, near the end it was hard not to cry as I thought of all the places my kiddoes are going and all that awaits them!


"You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!"

I want them to move mountains!  ( ... I'd like them to do it by having faith as small as a mustard seed (see Matthew 17:20).  I want them to succeed!  I DON'T wan't them to "mixed up with many strange birds" as they go!  I hope I've taught them, in some small way, how to "step with care and great tact."


And I hope I can keep it together when I start to tell them I'm not going to be here next year.  


You can read the whole "Oh the Places You'll Go" here.

Friday News

1) I have a student teacher!

After a day's delay due to all that alleged snow in the north, Kelley arrived safely and has spent two days in 3C with me and my wild things. It is unnerving and yet feels slightly natural having her there. I'm excited about what this means for the next few months of teaching. Already her help has been amazing. Today I left school almost all caught up--something that hasn't happened on a Friday afternoon in a long time.

2) Something I've been happy about in the classroom lately is how well my kids are responding to a kid's book I really enjoy: The Thing About Georgie, a fun chapter book about a 4th grade boy who is a dwarf, struggling with the fact that he'll never be a musician like his parents and fearful that the new, normal-sized baby on the way will be.

3) Pray for Honduras. Think Mexico City and Man on Fire and you'll have an idea of what has been going on around here lately. Nearly every day my students' prayer requests relate to some kid or another (or adult, actually) who has been kidnapped. Praise the Lord that one 15 year old in San Pedro Sula made it home this week! In our latest staff meeting we learned that the climate of our school's families is one of fear. Our kids are the kinds of kids targeted, and many of them are terrified. It makes me feel ill just thinking of the possibility of something like this happening to one of my own.

4) These verses from Jeremiah chapter 9 spoke to me this week. Hmm... reading it again after writing the above makes me think about them together. What do you think?

v. 23-24.....This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,"

Teaching and Soccer

Last week was only our second full-length, five-day week since we began school in August. With some weeks having half-days, and others being canceled altogether, we are just now experiencing some normalcy. This week it was kind of hard to be a good teacher and get lots of material taught--I felt out of practice. But it was pretty easy to be a good teacher and love on my students. I had one of those weeks where I just ended each day looking forward to seeing them again in the morning.

In other news, poor Honduras lost the big soccer game last night against the U.S.A. It was quite a game; super exciting and it kept you on your toes, but in the end the U.S. won 3-2. Four of us teachers met up with a couple friends in a Chili's restaurant to watch the game. I had no idea that Chilis would be such an important place to watch soccer. When the 4 of us arrived, we approached the two ladies standing outside with lists and discovered that you needed a reservation to get in. Maybe because we're gringas and maybe because we were gringas wearing Honduras shirts, they found room for us and let us in! I'm glad they did because it turned into quite an event. One of the presidential candidates for this November's election was there with his wife, greeting everyone. Some other candidate for something else (I forget) was there as well. If Honduras had won it would have been the best.
It's kind of sad... in the U.S. there are so few people who even know about games like this or who care one iota about the World Cup. Here, however, the whole country was wearing their team's jersey and watching the game. Winning would mean more to the Hondurans.

Exhausted but good...

I am 4 full-days and 3 half-days deep into the school year. I have been working my tail off trying to get things in order all week. Today was open house. The students left at 11:30 and Open House was from 2:00-5:00. I got to meet some of the Tegucigalpa elite and tell them how great their children are doing (which, after only a week, they really are). My class is sweet and young (in Mexico, my third graders had a year of pre-first before first grade, so they were actually fourth-grade ages). It is taking some getting used to just knowing what their ability levels and emotional levels are. Some of them are really just babies. :) In a good way, usually.

This place is such a mix of cultures and lifestyles. Last weekend I got to help out at the feeding center Macayla is involved with. It is through an organization called Manos Extendidas (check them out: http://www.mehonduras.org/). They have child-sponsorship programs and we participated in their bible lesson and food distribution (of an interesting rice-milk-mush). It was so humbling, and kind of crazy, to descend off of our mountain where some of the homes are mansions with full-time armed guards, into a part of town that only receives water once a week or so and has homes made of scrap materials and dirt floors.

I have visited a few churches so far and am trying to find a fit. Pray that I can get involved in a church here. That was something I never successfully did in Mexico.

Home stretch

This is my last break during grad school. After the next (mini) semester, I will have my M.Ed. and head off (on graduation day!) to Honduras to teach again. You know, I recently heard someone state that being a teacher is harder than being a brain surgeon--teachers have to know how to reach every student in whatever way will work for him or her, but a brain surgeon (according to this person) does mostly the same things over and over again.
Now, I'm not sure I'd go that far in an appraisal of the job of a teacher, but there is a good point in there somewhere. Man...teaching is hard! I know a lot of non-teachers who don't think it is, but my motto has generally been: If you think it's easy, you're probably doing something wrong. It's scary to think of the responsibility teachers have. It plays out something like this :
1. the teacher enters.
2. 25 or so students enter.
3. the teacher must be an authority, but also warm enough so that the kids care about what she has to say.
4. the teacher must learn everything she can about her students--their interests, abilities, home lives, and struggles.
5. the teacher must then design instruction that will somehow engage all 25 of the different little people in front of her.
6. Most importantly, and most difficultly, the teacher should somehow find a way to make kids want to explore, learn, discover, and enjoy the world, in and outside of the classroom and school year.

Boy. I have two years of experience and another degree and I still feel nearly as clueless as I did on day one.
I guess the great think about teaching is that, even though it's really hard, it's a good kind of hard. I think it's hard like mini golf. No one plays mini-golf perfectly, but since it is social and fun, you keep at it. In mini golf, have to focus to get it right, and you generally keep a record of what you've done, and after 18 different holes, you might only get one hole-in-one--but it's enough to pump you up for the next round!

Wow. All cheesy metaphors aside, I'm pretty excited to get back in the game!

Tegucigalpa

To whom it may concern:

Next year I will be teaching third grade in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras at Academia Los Pinares, a bilingual Christian school very similar to where I taught in Mexico.

More to come.

:)

Teaching and Technology

It's everywhere.  We can't escape it.  It's technology from the black lagoon.  Ok, well, maybe it's not all bad.  What am I saying? I subscribe to it as much as the next person, with my daily texting, facebooking, and even twittering. 

But I can't help but be slightly unnerved at the enormity of this new techno-culture.  With people, young and not-so-young, inserting acronyms into their daily conversations ("o.m.g. that is such a cute shirt!") it makes me a bit nostalgic for the times when the computer was a novelty... a once-daily connection to the not-quite-as-huge social network of emails and, perhaps, message boards.  Now--and I include myself in this shift--it's a never-ending, always wired, continual feed of news and tidbits into anyone and anything we could ever imagine.  Everything is instant and at-hand.  

In the grad-school world of education, we often discuss how this is, or is going to affect our classrooms.  It already has, to some degree. With children being constantly stimulated with games, computers, phones, and movies, it's tricky to find ways to engage them in class.  

As much as it excites me that so many school here in Alachua County have smart-boards in every classroom, I'm also a bit nervous for what this means for myself as a teacher in the twenty-first century.  I already feel farther behind than many, when I once felt as if I was keeping up with the changing times.  

I didn't mean to go off on such a tangent... I have papers to write!  But this stemmed from a couple of articles that NCTE brought to my attention.  

• High schoolers using twitter to study Dante: 
  
• And the possibility that texting can help reading skills.  

Apparently Blogger isn't up on the times. Otherwise they would know not to insert that dashed, red line under the word, "texting".