Warm Fuzzies

Some things just give you a warm fuzzy and today it was during one of my classes.
(Names have been changed to protect the innocent.)

Being a secondary art teacher generally I have mainstream students with varying degrees of ability. Seldom do I have the life skills students but over the years I have had two or three of the students for a short duration of time until they feel uncomfortable.

John, a life skills student at the high school has been placed in my art class because his father insisted that his son be placed in an art class. My class was selected as the one he would go into. I had reason to have major concern over the child being in the classroom. I was concerned that the boy would be traumatized by cruel students. I was concerned that he would feel incapable of keeping up and he really is incapable of working at a high school level. Plus other various concerns....big class, time, energy, fear of the unknown...you know, just concerns.

The first day John came with an aide. She helped me set him up with colored pencils and papers and he began to color happily. John stands at least a foot shorter than me and is about as round as he is tall. When he smiles every crooked tooth in his head is visible. He seldom speaks but answers with his eyes and his head bobs up and down vigorously in agreement to show his approval. I could not help but fall in love with him. The other students made no visible sign of even noticing John's presence in the room at first.

The next day John came alone and sat down in his chair. I began to work with students demanding my time when I realized he was sitting there without any attention from me. I sent over a pretty girl and told her to go give him a little attention and see if she could set him in motion. Eventually I would get over to him and talk to him and give him my personal attention. He was a happy boy.

The following days came and much the same procedure would take place. I seated the boy next to Claudia. Claudia is my clapping girl. She will spontaneously burst into applause if I hold up a picture anyone is drawing and soon we would all be clapping and holding up our drawings to get approval from the class. Claudia also, was very sweet to John. John was very happy sitting near Claudia and she was as good with him as if he were her own child. In exchange for the wonderful attention she gave John I would give her extra attention like extra pats on her back, looks of loving approval across the room, affirming her actions verbally as often as I would see her. I watched out for my duo from wherever I would be in the room. All of this attention did not go unnoticed by the rest of the class. No one ever said anything about John's presence. If they disapproved they were kind enough to keep it to themselves. No one was mean or cruel.

Today Claudia was outside taking photos and could not take care of John. No sooner had Claudia left the room but Jason, a tall slender boy somewhat new to the class having only been in the class for two or three weeks jumped into action. Jason pulled John's chair into position, pulling it up close to Claudia's seat and then Jason sat down in her seat next to John. Then Jason began to assist John, helping him to get his drawing going in the direction he figured I would want him to go. When I looked up and noticed what was happening I made eye contact with John who was smiling from ear to ear. He was a happy boy.

And I was a happy teacher seeing the softening of a class full of students by the mere presence of a disabled child. John has brought out the kind hearts in my students. How blessed we are to have him in our classroom.

Jason tucked his little chick under his wing and began to cluck over him. I think that he had been just waiting for his chance to help.

Pep Rally Star

Our last pep rally starred my nephew, Alex. YouTube has three videos to complete the performance. Here is the first one. Alex is the tall one on the far left in a horizontal stripe shirt(second from the left side, actually the shirt has a vertical stripe also but it blurs out). Everyone said it was the best pep rally the school has ever had. First year in high school and already a star! Congrats, Alex.




Here is the second video clip.



And the grand finale of the performance. The crowd loved it!

The Day's Video

I could not figure out in a short amount of time how to post this video. Click on the Title of the Post and go to YouTube to see this video on Fox News this morning. Make sure you watch the vet as he is walking away.
Gives me chills.


Thanks, Jaci. I have embedded videos before but I am at school and YouTube is blocked so I am not even sure if I can do it from here. I was trying to rush out the door to get to school at the early hour I have to get to school this morning when I was trying to post. (Did that SOUND like a complaint about the early hour that we are required to be at school?)

The Shack

I really did not go into hibernation as the school year begun.....no, instead I have just been too busy to have time to post anything. In fact, really the only thoughts that bounce through this brain of mine are things about school.

However, I am toward the end of another interesting book, The Shack by William (Willie) P. Young. Willie, the author, a son of a missionary now grown and with children, never really intended to be publishing this book but instead was writing it for his children to read. Thinking this approach was entertaining while imparting a knowledge of God's constant love of us, he wrote it, made copies he bound and gave to his children and a select few friends. Soon the copies were circulating and people were asking where they could get copies. A relatively short book comparatively to War and Peace, I guess, I thought I would read it in a couple of days but have not had the free time to read so am now at the end of the week still reading in little short snatches of time here and there while doing duty at school, during advisory at school, during a passing period...... I have found it interesting that the book has intrigued me and even after I put the book down I am thinking and questioning, anxious to get to it.

Mack, the main character experiences a life changing tragedy in his life that leaves him sad and feeling separated from God when he receives an invitation from someone he thinks could be God. I will stop here because I don't want to spoil it for you since Jackie said she is reading it and Jennifer wants to now.

So much to think about, the book has reinforced some things I already knew, illustrates ideas I had not thought of, puts God in a different perspective to me....

• relationships
• God's constant love....
• Man's emotional ups and downs
  
• God's constant love......
• the continual presence of the Holy Spirit with us
• God's constant love....
  

While I do not accept this book as gospel, obviously, this is a book that makes me think, has me talking to people who have noticed me with the book who would otherwise not listen to anything about God....an interesting piece of fiction with a message.
I would be interested in knowing the thoughts of others who have read the book.

If you are interested in knowing more about the book, the author, etc go to his website at www.theshackbook.com

The Best Pay

I sit here this morning in the beginning of a new week and wonder where all my time is going this year. Here it already a week into October.

Thanks to my job I have been one busy woman this year and I am thinking they do not pay me enough! Every week I put in at least ten hours extra doing extracurricular activities for the school because I am a junior class sponsor and that is after hours.... work trips to SA, staying to work football games in the concession stand at both junior high as well as high school and whatever else they find for us to do....and as I stated this is only the beginning of October....I help organize prom this year.

I enjoy each class individually.
I enjoy the students individually.
I enjoy the socialization of my fellow co-workers.

But it just waste-es all that good time!

I am a morning person. If I want to get something done I need to get it done in the morning. As a young mother I used to have my house clean by 10:00 in the morning and then I was ready to sit down at my sewing machine to be creative and sew my childrens' clothes or work in the yard.
Oh, work in the yard......(oh, I remember getting to get out in the mornings!) I had a day ahead of me. And I probably slept in until 6:30 or 7:00 in those days.

Now it is up at 5:15, take a shower, fix my face and hair, go downstairs and fix breakfast and off to school...oh, and had a couple of cups of coffee, removed the dishes from the dishwasher, sorted through dirty clothes, put in a couple of loads of clothes to wash, and found my school id. By 10:00 AM I have done my morning duty and am into my second class of the day almost into the third class, helped about forty of my students be creative and submitted all of the paperwork for the morning classes. Not bad for a morning but I still will see at least another 100 kids before the day is over, make at least 500 decisions, provide healthy choices for those disruptive students and guide them all down the road to creative thinking....before 3:45.

When I was a young mother I longed to have a paying job. I thought that would make me more of a valuable person. Now I long for the peace of staying at home with my family and touching those I love the most.

The pay is better.

Buddy Walk

Buddy Walk is this Saturday. This will be our fifth one? I think!
It is fun every year.
Join us if you can. We have 36 on our team this year.

I wanted to share our team's posters with everyone.
Caleb made these for us this year. He plans to have them printed out for his shop.
I think the posters are wonderful.
Don't you?

Update on Carl and Lisa

Did you know that Houston has a curfew?
You can not be out after 9:00 PM. At least, not in the area without electricity. Thank goodness someone is watching out for the homes left unmanned.

But Carl and Lisa are now up and running again.
Actually, they are here right now but soon will be returning home. It has been fun having them here.

Is that selfish?

From Lisa's Corner of Ike

I know, I know....three weeks and nothing posted and now two posts in one day.

I just got off of the phone with Lisa.
Still (at 2:00 PM today) they are without electricity and water but they received word via the radio that the Fort Bend area will be among the first to get electricity restored.
They are actually in Stafford (pretty far southwest of downtown Houston right off of 59) but Lisa said that they are serviced through Fort Bend so hopefully it will not be weeks as first predicted.

Many thanks for those of you who have expressed concern or called about the kids. They have a good attitude about all this. They are hot and tired. Carl is working in the neighborhood chain-saw-gang along with other men going from house to house and helping to get started with clean up. Lisa is working doing the domestic part of the clean up.

Keep all of the victims in your prayers. Please pray for their safety and that this experience will bring them closer to God and their neighbors. Soon this will be just a memory for them.

Many thanks for your expressions of concern for all of our friends in the area. There are many, many of yours and my friends, family, children, and grandchildren living there. And as far, as I have heard of those who we know everyone has escaped personal danger to themselves.

Ike

Just heard from the kids in Houston and they survived the night. Carl said he and Lisa did not sleep last night and at the early hour that I was on the phone with Carl he said the little ones were beginning to wake up.

I had been searching the internet for a map that has a pointer that says "Here are Carl and Lisa" and "here is Ike's movement" but no where could I find that map. I turned the TV off of my usual old movie channels and have it on CNN listening and watching for news of what the Hurricane has done to the people in that region.

Carl called and told me that he has lots of clean up necessary, huge tree limbs down, the fence separating them from their neighbors is ON the neighbor's car, knocked out one window and are without electricity and now without water. Lisa and the babies are coming this way but I am not sure if they are going to Lauren's house, (her sister) or here. The news says it can be up to three weeks before they get electricity there. So it will take weeks to get Carl & Lisa's cleaned up really considering the mess the lack of electricity has on us....freezers, refrigerators, washers, dryers and Carl tells me they are now without water so it is a mess but again........God blesses us and has protected us again.

First Week

We have completed a full week with students.
It has felt like we are doing marathon teaching with so many classes, advisory and planning periods. But ironically it feels like we have already been in school for weeks.

I am drained at the end of the day.
My feet ache from standing most of the day.
And my creativity is mushed....squashed....
And being a junior class sponsor means working the concession stand at the games....talk about work.....the fast food industry......a good reason for these kids to get an education so they do not have to do this sort of work for the rest of their lives.

The other day one of the older women at church commented that my job is fun. People often think that teaching art is fun and there are times in the day that it is. I guess if you like to listen to the tragic love stories of the young and wasted (I mean restless) watch football jokes (oops, I mean jocks) strut like roosters in the hen yard, see cheerleaders bounce their way into the rooms, hear the drummers parade down the hallways on football Fridays while you are trying to impress precious knowledge into the minds of a room full of wiggling teens and lead room fulls of kids to discover how to "make things pretty" in 45 minutes or less every day several times a day then sure, teaching art is fun.

But really for me.....I do like it. I love the drum roll down the hallway, especially knowing my own nephew is taking part in it. I cringe when the kids cry on my shoulder about their "loves" but understand that they believe this is the most important time of their lives and that the years to come will be the downhill side of their lives. (What a surprise they are in for. ) I grow tired of disciplining but when I can assist a young lady from being sexually harassed by boys, I am all over that.

And where else could I be caught drawing in class and everyone think I am doing my job?