At a day and age where it feels like youth is corrupted with unlimited texting, Jersey Shore, and the internet, it's nice to know that there are still some firsts left to be discovered. Like the movie The Sixth Sense, which I was pleasantly surprised to find that many of students had never seen.
Apples & Pencils
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Firsts
At a day and age where it feels like youth is corrupted with unlimited texting, Jersey Shore, and the internet, it's nice to know that there are still some firsts left to be discovered. Like the movie The Sixth Sense, which I was pleasantly surprised to find that many of students had never seen.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Parts of the Whole
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Glass Half Full
"These two visiting teachers were the gold and silver sun-splash in the great muddy river of school days, days made up of dreary hours in which Teacher made her pupils sit rigid with their hands folded behind their back...if all the teachers had been like Miss Bernstone and Mr. Morton, Francie would have known plain what heaven was. But it was just as well. There had to be the dark and muddy waters so that the sun could have something to background its flashing glory."
-Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Open Your Eyes
Open House, for me, follows a predictable routine. First come the jitters where I question my decorating, organizing, and teaching abilities. Then the elbow grease starts flowing as I scrub my room with a focus that parallels a marine’s. Finally the short but exhausting 2 hours of talking to parent after parent takes place.
Usually, it’s a much ado about nothing. That is, until a former student comes back to visit.
There’s just something about witnessing the former ghosts of a gawky, impossibly immature 7th graders develop into near adults that overwhelms. From the way they carry themselves to the thoughts they express, I can’t believe the bloom that has occurred over the years
Tonight, I found out that one of the biggest troublemakers in my 6th period is the younger brother of a student I had 4 years ago. She came to me and I remembered her instantly because of her eyes. She has a pair of deep, luminous, compassionate eyes. She was telling me how she worried about him, while he mimicked and cursed her, telling her to shut up. When their mom stepped him, he spat out words of anger till I intervened and told him to leave, because no one should treat their family like that.
She described how her mom can’t control him and how their family has a lot of things going on right now. He’s on his way to being expelled, and she just wants to find a part time job right now to help her mom out. It hit me that while I have to “deal” with this student for only three more months, he will be a part of that family forever.
Hearing that formerly forlorn, scrawny girl saying more than I ever heard her say in a year amazed me. Her eyes had told the story all along, but I never understood it. While my heart was filled to see her as a responsible, caring 11th grader, it was broken at the same time.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Lost and Found
Destination: From Ms. Won’s classroom to the principal’s office. | Destination: To prove that the use of Ugandan child soldiers is a serious problem, but that there is a solution. |
Specific directions: 1. Make a right out of the classroom. 2. Make a left at the main hallway. 3. Go straight until you reach the library. 4. Make a left at the library. 5. Enter the main office. 6. Find the principal’s office door to your left. | Specific directions: 1. The child soldiers are being abused. 2. Even for those who escape still suffer from negative effects. 3. The use of children as soldiers is spreading to other countries. 4. One possible way to help is to go to Uganda myself for a summer through a teacher exchange program. |