Wet Paper, Star Wars, Beads, 3 cups of Tea, and Migraines

You give a boy some wet paper and a ceiling...take a guess where that paper is going to go? I remember one little girl trying that out in the girls bathroom once upon a time. The slap of wet paper on the ceiling makes such a satisfying sound. Although I wanted to laugh as I looked at the wet paper heart on the ceiling I knew I could not... or the about 27 wet paper hearts would be plastering the ceiling. Also one is never too old to feel a wee bit nervous being called to the Principal's Office... even when you know you're not in trouble!!

Star WarsStar Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Widescreen Edition). I never was a fan. Maybe I was too young to appreciate how it changed cinema. Maybe I'm just not a fan of Sci-fi unless it is theThe Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 25th Anniversary Edition: A Novel I often don't like movies that dictate my imagination. I'd rather read the book and create the world in my head based on words on a page.. or just create a world in my own imagination. Movies often dissapoint. Whatever it was or is... I am not a fan of Star Wars... and watching the first 30-45 minutes again and again. Well 6 times in one day did not improve my enjoyment or opinion of Star Wars. All the flickering imagines on the big screen did was give me a massive headache.

If you give them a bead loomDarice 1012-24 Bead Loom, thread, seed beads, and a needle, they will bead. and bead... and bead! They will also spill said beads all over but they will bead. They planned their bracelets on graph paper Tops Section Pads with 10 Squares, Quadrille Rule, Letter Size (8.5 x 11), White, 50 Sheets per Pad (35101) Sometimes they made their name, a favorite team, favorite school, etc etc. I was just surprised how excited that these students were about beading and how focused and determined they were to complete a project. I was surprised but pleasantly so that they would learn a bit of a craft and get such a great deal of enjoyment from it.

I really love country schools. The kids continuously surprise you with their understanding, love of nature, practicality, and good taste in music. Turning on the radio to a country music station had the entire class singing along. For a teacher who is a fan of country music herself it warmed my heart to hear them singing this song: International Harvester

Then to High School. I have to repeat to myself quite often something one very wise college professor said to me. Don't teach to students you wish you had... teach to the ones you do. I wish every single day that they had more respect, better behavior, better manners, less bad language spoken, more motivation, more appreciation etc etc etc. However they don't. These are the students I have, we have, as a teaching community in these Spoiled States of America. I can't blame parents, teachers, it is a Societal problem. We are all guilty of creating the monsters. I can't expect them to have respect.. when they have not been taught what it is, what it looks like, or how to give it. No matter how much I want them to appreciate what they have, they know nothing other than this and take it for granted. Sometimes It is very upsetting to me. Especially when I am reading between classes this book:
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Change the World... One Child at a Time ( The Young Reader's Edition)

The students, families, communities, leaders, strangers, friends, foes, and foreigners all sacrifice something to build a school and receive an education. Sacrifice is something few American students today can comprehend. Their great or great-great grandparents may have sacrificed something for them to get an education but it is so long ago it isn't part of their thinking. They didn't carry the bricks that built the school, hammer the nails, raise the funds, raise the roof, give up their time, give up their food, give up their money, to learn. They just show up and it is given to them. They deface, vandalize, and destroy the materials given to them to learn. Rarely does it come into their realm of thinking that their parents pay, that all of society pays, for them to learn. I think taxation that takes money out of our paycheck makes the sacrifice less tangible. Then it is also less meaningful because you were not a part of your educations construction. I would read this story and look up wondering at their lack of appreciation. Wonder at what their counterparts in these poor parts of the world would say at their cavalier treatment of their learning. I am just as guilty as the students I looked at.. but I was taught what sacrifice means, what it looks like, why it is done, and why it is important. I imagine that some of these students will learn but I think the lesson will come at a much greater cost... because it is so inconceivable to them. My understanding may be elementary.. but theirs does not exist... and I do not yet know how to bridge that gap. The only students that I notice that have an understanding of sacrifice are the children of soldiers serving all over the world right now. They know sacrifice because they feel it, see it, and live it every day.