ALL ABOARD!

Esme Raji Codell had chronicled the happenings of her first year as a 5th grade teacher in a quirky book aptly titled Educating Esme. This excerpt from her book is about the adventure of sending off her students in a Time Machine!

"Really, an old refrigerator box covered with aluminum foil, with a flashing police car light rigged at the top and various knobs and keyboards screwed and glue-gunned on. Inside, a comfortable pillow for sitting and a flashlight attached to a curly phone cord. A student helped me install a bookshelf inside the box with a power drill.

The idea: time travel through books.

I left the machine in the classroom, buckled and locked closed with lots of signs all over it: "TOP SECRET""Under Construction! Highly Radioactive!"

The big question was who would be the first daring hero to risk his or her life in the contraption? In the interest of fairness, this seemed best left to chance, even at the risk that some terrible realist would be chosen and announce, 'It's nothing but a box full of books! It's a fake!'

It turned out that JoEllen was chosen. We sent her off with much fanfare, with me pressing buttons and turning knobs feverishly, double-checking for accuracy...In she went. The doors closed. On went the police car light. 'Back to work'. Silent reading time.

In a half hour, I retrieved her. She came out, breathless. "What did you see?" Everybody wanted to know. JoEllen paused.

'A joust'

'A what?'

'Two guys. Fighting on horses. Their armor clanging as they rode...'

For the rest of the day, the kids took turns in the time machine. So far, nobody has said, 'It's just a box full of books.'"

She's one of those teachers who isn't afraid to think outside the box, to experiment, and to fail. She inspires weary followers to break the shackles of state test scores to inundating our students with passion for education and eventually, empowerment. She peels away the bs surrounding conventional ways of learning to unleash the potential that really lies within. Just through her own actions, she sends out a message for teachers and students to challenge ourselves to reach further, do better...

Apples of my eye

First day back from winter break and it has been filled with reminders of why teaching is the greatest profession:

1. Walking my sleep deprived, blurry eyed self across the hall and hearing Ana yell out, "Ms. Won! My darling~I missed you!"

2. Asking Jose, my most prolific tagger, to help me sort through a stack of students' papers as opposed to adding more decorations to his already colorful binder. His face breaking out into an impish, adorably boyish grin. Although knowing that he'll go right back to cursing the living daylights out of me when I confiscate his artwork, feeling the pleasure of having a moment's worth of connection with him. 

3. Watching Jennifer trudge up my steps when 6th period began. Then asking her how her break was. Her shrugging and then wordlessly diving into me for a hug. 

The perks of teaching are as quiet as a field of sunflowers craning their necks toward the direction of the sun. Strange, glorious, and exquisitely heart-breaking. 

In memory

One thing I love about teaching is that you get to rub elbows with giants. There are so many great teachers out there doing affecting countless lives, and the best part is that, you can imitate freely. There's no air of competition in this field, and all I can do is try my best to follow in their tracks. 

Thank you James for introducing me to Mr. Wood, a teacher who passed away recently and now has a facebook dedication page made by former students. Here are some of their wall posts:

Khoa Doan - Mr. Wood was an incredible man and mentor.

I remember when he drew a huge circle on the blackboard and asked everyone what it was...everyone would say a circle or earth, to which mr. Wood would say, "this is my wife bending over." his laughter was infectious and was willing to turn a frown upside down. His inner child ...will always remind me to enjoy life.

I remember when we would do an in-class assignment, he would be in the hallway riding his scooter or playing with his remote control car.

Thank you mr. Wood! You will be missed.

Erin O'Keefe - I met Mr. Wood 5 years before I even had him as a teacher when my oldest brother had him, and again when my second older brother had him. I was merely an eighth grader when he gave me a cow that poops out jelly beans (which I still have). He was such an amazing man, who always had a smile. He retired in my senior year, and I was fortunate to have him as a teacher. He would tell me that he couldn't retire until he had the last O'Keefe in his classroom. 

He had a way of making EVERY student feel loved and important. He was funny, and intelligent, and had a way of making Government enjoyable. RIP Mr. Wood. I hope you got to open that candy shop like you wanted to after you retired.

Kimberly Tran - I remember he would find out during class that we were all ditching the next day for senior ditch day, and would say really angrily, "You guys are ditching tomorrow?" Then he would say "why didn't you tell me?" and walk over to the phone to find a sub cause as he explained it, he was a "senior" citizen too and and he'd... be darned if he wasn't going to be included.

Gratitude Cafe

As I not only recognize but feel in my very bones that the very last seconds of winter break are ticking away, every last pleasure I get to squeeze in seems that much more precious. Today I got to watch a 7:30 movie with a beautiful friend who happens to be a teacher also. Normally, I can't afford such a luxury on a weeknight. But tonight, I savored the movie and afterwards (which would be normally be pajama donning hour) when the thick night fog had enveloped us, I only felt peace. 

I know that it's ridiculously lucky to be in a profession that grants you 3 weeks of vacation time every winter as opposed to every year. I'm self indulgently beating a dead horse when I say vacation is wonderful. But aside from the sleeping in, hanging out, and supporting the local economy that being on vacation entails, there's a deeper reason behind why it is not only desired but needed. At its best, it's like being submerged in a deep pool of water where the world quiets down and your inner voice is allowed a chance to speak. And what that inner voice told me was to spend some time being a better daughter, a friend, a woman for pete's sake, instead of just being a "Ms. Won". 

Once school starts, I know that the role of a teacher will fit me just like an old, cozy sweater, but for the time being, it was wonderful. And none of the teachers I knew spent their vacations being lazy and unproductive. They made an exodus to their hometowns for the holidays. They spent an exorbitant amount of time with family (for better or worse). One worked on her garden after a misty rain. Another is visiting the Natural History Museum at a time when period 6 should be wrapping up.  

All of these hours of being suspended in time reveals how beautiful the simplicity of life is. 

A Brand New Year

"No, this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took

And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood"

Regina Spektor - On the Radio