Village of 100 people

Some of you may have already read this, but it gives good perspective.

In the world today, more than 6 billion people live. If this world were shrunk to the size of a village on 100 people, what would it look like?

59 would be Asian
14 would be American (North, Central and South)
14 would be African
12 would be European
1 would be from the South Pacific

50 would be women, 50 would be men
30 would be children, 70 would be adults.
70 would be nonwhite, 30 would be white
90 would be heterosexual, 10 would be homosexual

33 would be Christians
21 would be Moslems
15 would be Hindus
6 would be Buddhists
5 would be Animists
6 would believe in other religions
14 would be without any religion or atheist.

15 would speak Chinese, Mandarin
7 English
6 Hindi
6 Spanish
5 Russian
4 Arabic
3 Bengali
3 Portuguese
The other would speak Indonesian, Japanese,
German, French, or some other language.

In such a village with so many sorts of folks, it would be very important to learn to understand people different from yourself and to accept others as they are. Of the 100 people in this village:

20 are underonurished
1 is dying of starvation, while 15 are overweight.
Of the wealth in this village, 6 people own 59% (all of them from the United States), 74 people own 39%, and 20 people share the remaining 2%.
Of the energy of this village, 20 people consume 80%, and 80 people share the remaining 20%.
20 have no clean, safe water to drink.
56 have access to sanitation
15 adults are illiterate.
1 has an university degree.
7 have computers.

In one year, 1 person in the village will die, but in the same year, 2 babies will be born, so that at the year's end the number of villagers will be 101.

If you do not live in fear of death by bombardment, armed attack, landmines, or of rape or kidnapping by armed groups, then you are more fortunate than 20, who do.

If you can speak and act according to your faith and your conscience without harassment, imprisonment, torture or death, then you are more fortunate than 48, who can not.

If you have money in the bank, money in your wallet and spare change somewhere around the house, then you are among the richest 8.

If you can read this message, that means you are probably lucky!

(The statistics were derived from Donella Meadows "State of the Village Report" first published in 1990)

This shows how much money we have, and how we take for granted what we have.

Rude Awakening

This was the new sign on the "in" sign of the parking lot at school. I noticed today they also added one to the door.

Kind of puts things into perspective.

From the Mouths of Babes

I have realized this first year of teaching, that kids love to ask questions. Some of them get annoying, like when one person asks to go to the bathroom, and everyone else things that sounds like a good idea, so they all ask. So, here are some of the most commonly asked questions, and some of the funniest that I have answered this year.

These ones I probably answer daily:

"Can I use the restroom?"
"Can I get a drink?"
"Can I take my Hot Cheetos to lunch?"
"Can I take the football out for recess?"
"When do I get to use the computer?"
"Can I sharpen a pencil?"
"Can I borrow your pencil?"
"Is it time for lunch yet?"
"Do we have PE today?"

These ones are once in a lifetime questions, most of which made me smile!

"You know how there is a people God, is there a dog God?" (I should have said "Yes, it is dogma.")

"Don't you do anything fun?" (Apparently my life is incredibly boring to an 8 year old.)

"When will you get another boyfriend?" (I think the asker of this question was worried about me!)

"Why didn't you dump him first?" (No Comment)

"Why don't you wear any makeup?" (I actually do, so the fact that it isn't obvious to a kid tells me I am wearing just enough. I remember how I used to put makeup on when I was little. Crazy!)

"When you were in (long pause) Miscunsin?" (I talk about both Minnesota and Wisconsin since I grew up in one, and went to school in the other. I guess this might be a bit of a tough concept to grasp.)

"Can I have another cupcake?" (Ha. No. This was after our valentines party.)

"How come your clothes are always clean?" (A good lesson on personal hygiene. And the fact that I don't roll around in dirt on a regular basis.)

Here is also one of my favorite scenarios, that probably occurs on a daily basis, if not twice a day.

Student approaches me.

"I lost my pencil."

I look at student.

"Well (insert student's name), I didn't take it."

Student stares at me.

I stare back.

"Would you like to know what other second graders have done when they have lost a pencil?"

Student nods.

I reply.

"Well, some second graders ask me to borrow a pencil, and some second graders ask a friend to borrow a pencil."

At this point in the conversation, all the busybodied students in my class get out an extra pencil and start to offer it to the victim of the tragic pencil loss.

Students stares at me and stares at them.

"Everybody, just wait. (Student's name) is going to ask to borrow a pencil from someone. Keep doing your work."

Student stares at me some more.

I stare back, working to keep a straight face.

"Do either of those sound like good ideas to you?"

Student nods.

I continue staring. If I stare for more than a minute, I go back to my work while the pencil-less student still stands there. Usually a minute or so later I hear a soft voice.

"Can I borrow a pencil?"

I smile.

"Of course!"

This is the day...

This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.

For some reason today I woke up with this line running through my head. It has been forever and half since I have sung this song, (in English or Czech), but I kept hearing it in my head. A great reminder that everyday is made by God, and should be celebrated.

Today is Presidents Day, so I get to really enjoy an extra weekend day. I hadn't planned on doing anything spectacular, maybe some reading, a little planning and cleaning at home. I decided to go to Starbucks to do my planning, because I find it faster to do when I am not around distractions like TV or the computer. Okay, or maybe I just wanted some coffee. Why is it that coffee shop coffee seems better than what I make here???

It was, and still is a beautiful day. Sun shining with a high of 60. Considering I am now a little ready for spring, this made my day. A little while into planning, I got a call from my friend Rachel, and we decided to meet for lunch. It was such a blessing to meet her and spend time chatting about life, each other and just being able to know each other a little better. God has blessed me with good friends, both old and new.

I just came home and turned off my heat and opened all my windows. It is warmer outside than in my apartment anyway, and the fresh air is just great to breathe in! I think I'll have to go on a walk later, it is just too nice, and it is supposed to be like this all week! I will definitely have to take my kids out for extra recces this week, considering they've been cooped up for two months with no outdoor reccess.

In whatever you do today, remember to rejoice and be glad in it. Each day is such a blessing, and I am thankful for the renewed perspective that I gained through the ordinary today.

Valentines Drama

I am at home, recovering from my first ever Valentines as a teacher. You might say "but it is not Valentines". Oh, right. Well due to meetings all afternoon long tomorrow (the 14th) my team and I have made Valentines a two day holiday this year, much to my regret now.

No, it really isn't that bad, and it was fun for me. Having been homeschooled during Elementary school, I haven't been able to experience the sheer thrill that come from making my box (or in my class envelope) for my valentines and watching it fill, or the anticipation of the fabulous Valentines Feast.

Yes, I said feast. Let me break it down for you. 5 students brought 25 cupcakes. I have 21 students in my class. That is 125 cupcakes total. All full size, no mini cupcakes for us, we party in style. I just did the math, that is 5.95 cupcakes each. Let's add to that an envelope full of Valentine candy, cookies, popcorn, Kool-Aid, and cake. Yes, cake. Essentially all that we had was straight sugar. Maybe next year I'll forgo sending home notes to bring a treat, and we'll all just bring a pound of sugar and eat it straight from the bag with a spoon.

I let each students (against my better judgement) have cake, 2 cupcakes, Kool-Aid, popcorn and a cookie. They had to take their candy home, and ask their parents if they can eat it. They also each took a cupcake home. I gave the 5th graders I tutor after school each a cupcake, as well as the mother and little brother that were helping in my class have anything they desired. I still have 30 cupcakes sitting in my room, and I don't even like cupcakes. I think I'll take them to our staff dessert buffet tomorrow.

I'll admit, it was fun. And being a teacher on Valentines isn't half bad. I brought home two stuffed bears and 4 boxes of chocolate. Whew, that will last me a while!

So, with all this said, Happy Valentines! And don't forget to eat a cupcake.

Fraction Fruit Salad

We made "Fraction Fruit Salad" today at school. Teaching fractions in 2nd grade is tough!!! So, I made fraction fruit salad with fruit. It really wasn't a salad at all, I just cut up fruit into chunks, we figured out the fractions and then we ate! It was interesting, no complaints from anyone, and all the yummy fruit was devoured. That is why I love these kids, thankful for anything and excited about everything.

Here's the recipe in case you want to try it:
1/2 orange
1/3 banana
2/8 apple

Enjoy!

Perspective

My kids have a way of putting my life into perspective. The last few weeks have been really hard on me emotionally, and without boring everyone with all the details I am just going to say that my kids have forced me to be stable, which has made me get up, deal with everything and keep going.

I have them do journals maybe once or twice a week. I try to think of a topic that is really simple, and that they all can relate to so that they can just get a lot of practice writing, and not worrying so much about structure, spelling etc. I just want to teach them to get their thoughts out on paper. As I was grading the two that they did this week, I was once again thrown back into reality of how blessed I am.

The first journal topic was on the 100th day of school, and I had the students write about what they would do with $100. Most of them were very funny, these kids really think $100 is more like $100,000, so they wanted to buy houses, cars, go on vacations and things like that. One of my students wrote this: "If I had $100 I would be rich, and I don't want to be rich, I just want to be an ordinary kid. So if I had $100 I would give the money to poor people who don't have enough food or clothes so they could be warm, and I would keep doing this until I had $1 left, and I would keep that for myself."

Wow. I pay $100 a month to have a phone, cable TV and internet in my apartment.

The second journal that stood out was when I had the students write about what they would do if they found a magic wand. My little gem whose mother passed away tragically last summer wrote: "If I found a magic wand I would get a big bed to sleep in, and have a mom and dad."

I was floored. I sat at my desk with tears falling down my face only trying to imagine the pain that she feels daily as she faces the world at 7 without her mother. I know children are resilient, and that she will succeed despite this, because she possesses amazing strength. I never thought I would look up to a child, but with her, I truly do.

I think what amazed me most about these two journals was how they truly show what is important in life. These kids are living in extreme poverty, sometimes with 2 or 3 families sharing one house. They might be hungry or cold at home, and for many school provides their most stable environment, but yet they know what really matters. Taking care of those who are less fortunate and family, among other things. I pray that I will be able to keep these perspectives as I continue to go forward in my life.

Back in Action

I know it has been a while since I last posted, and that is completely my fault! I have gotten so caught up with school, grades, holidays and then my nice long break, that I have put my blog on the back burner, maybe even on a burner in someone else's house!

It is good to be back from Christmas break. Although it was such a blessing to see my family and friends when I was home, I really love my kids here, and getting back to them was fun too! It has also been extremely challenging, as some of my behavior problems have reverted back to how things were in September. And it was so nice before Christmas!

It has been interesting as well this past week to talk with my kids about Martin Luther King (Martin Luther King day is on Monday, in case you didn't know), and see their reactions and perceptions of who he was and what he did. I have a very ethnically diverse class, so sitting up in front of them and talking about race and segregation made me feel a little embarassed to be saying that some white people thought that they were better than people who had different colored skin, but yet so thankful that they were all so surprised that the story was true. In their young minds they have not yet experienced racial prejudices or tension, and their short life has been filled with much more opprotunity than perhaps they would have had 50 or 60 years ago. I am thankful for how far this country has come. I think I am more grateful and appreciative of all that Martin Luther King did now, as I see what could have been had he not pursued his convictions and sacrificied as he did.

The highlight of my week came when one of my students came over to me when they were cleaning up their centers at the end of the day and rammed his head into my shoulder and put his arms around me and said "Ms. J, you are the best teacher." I don't need to hear that kind of thing to know that I am a good teacher, but hearing him say that made my heart swell with joy. Hopefully he'll look back someday as me having an impact on his life, and my hope is that all my students will do that.

Starbucks

This quote was on my Starbucks cup last week. I keep thinking about it, and how a lot of my students are the ones with the machetes.

A child’s mind isn’t a blank slate; it’s more of a jungle. Each time a parent helps a toddler read, the child is walked through this jungle from one side to the other. Trip after trip, a seemingly impossible passage becomes a well-worn path. Children sent to kindergarten skipping merrily along this path to literacy fare far better than those sent to school with machetes.

-- Keith Mastrion
“Reading Man” and 1998 National Teacher of the Year

Familiar Faces

I was so blessed last weekend to have a chance to see a familiar face. Tony, one of the parents that I got to know through nannying was in Hesston KS., doing a weekend seminar. I emailed him and we met up at a Starbucks before I ran him to the airport. I had tears in my eyes when I saw him, I guess I have been so consumed with my life here, that I've forgotten how much I miss my family and people from home. I mean, I guess it is good that I am busy instead of being bored and lonely, but I am truly so thankful for my family, and I miss them a lot.

The same weekend I was caught off guard in a dollar store when I heard a surprised "Ms. Johnson?". I don't know if she was surprised that I do normal things, or that I too shop at a dollar store. (I was there for prizes for my prize box.) I was totally out of teacher mode, and it took me much longer to respond than usual. When I turned around there was one of the students I have been tutoring after school, smiling huge! It was so weird to be recognized, but really nice as well. I got a hug, which I can never have too many of, and also got to meet her mom and siblings.

This last week was nutty with the kids! Between halloween, which I didn't like before, and now I like even less, and the day after halloween it was 20 jumping beans jumping off the walls! I am going to be very thankful for this next week, since we have Friday off, and I already made plans to go and visit Zach in CO. It should be nice to see that familiar face of my favorite brother.

For the love of books

Every time I read a book to my students, I tell them how much I love the particular book we are reading. This week one of them finally said "Ms. J, you say that about every book!" Well, I guess it's true, I love books.

I guess I have to contribute my love of books to my very unique childhood. I was homeschooled from Kindergarten to Third grade, and that is most definitely where my love of reading began. Being homeschooled allowed me to have one on one interaction with my mom as we sat in our basement in the woods of Wisconsin and read. We read a lot. There were weekly trips to the library, where I would explore and find new favorites, and always check out the tried and true ones. I think that my love of books was encouraged by my being homeschooled, since I was able to march to the beat of my own drum.

I am proud now, to say that I was homeschooled, even in the public school setting, where it is often looked down upon. I am glad that my mom made a decision to invest in my brother and my sister and I, even though it was not the wisest decision financially. It is so amazing to see her now, being blessed by God because she made that decision 20 years ago. I am thankful and blessed.

So hopefully, I'll pass my love of reading onto my TV watching, video game playing students. Maybe one day they will tell a child in their life "Oh I love this book. My teacher used to read it to me". And in the meantime, I'll keep reading to them, and keep loving books.

Three ring cirus

I have decided this week that teaching is like working in a three ring circus. Also, instead of being the ringleader, I more like the clown that comes out while everything else is going on, trying to steal the spotlight. This week has been completely indescribable. I had a student start a fire in my room on Monday, while I was at meetings all day. He obviously saw having a substitute as a moment of vulnerability. During a break one of the facilitators of the meeting came in and had a message for me to call school as soon as I had a break. With my heart pounding I called school, wondering what in the world they would need me for. I found out all the details and had a restless afternoon and evening waiting to get back to school. It is pretty amazing how fast they cleaned everything up. Besides smelling strongly like cleaning materials, my room was amazingly not too disturbed, thanks to the people who worked overnight to make sure we could be there on Tuesday.

Obviously that threw our week off a bit. Yesterday afternoon I was completely burned out and tired. I felt numb. It was funny because I felt like I was watching my class from the ceiling. I have pyromaniac; one student who has been in the office all morning because he made an explicit comment; a student who has a hand on his desk, pushing himself up and down as he hits himself on the butt with the other hand; someone chewing on his backpack strap while still wondering why I didn't let him eat the marshmallow from science that fell on the floor; an ultra-quiet girl, who hardly ever smiles, but does amazingly well in school. There are papers all over the floor, backpacks are on the backs but unzipped and close to losing their contents. Maybe we should blame all the crazy on the smell...oh, I work with some great kiddos!

Smelly hugs

I always have my students give me either a hug or a high five when they leave each day. I remind them everyday that it is because I want them to know when the leave that I care about them. This week there has been one of my students who has been particularly hard to love. He is being watched for ADHD, and sometimes I am amazed that he doesn't go crazy and start pulling apart the bulletin boards. He is brilliant though, so I am sad that he sometimes can't work as hard as his potential shows, because of his behavior. I don't think he bathed at all this week, his uniform has been dirty, and he has been pretty smelly. Even some other students in the class came to me and told me they thought he smelled. So when he came to me for a hug at the end of the day I reluctantly gave him a little hug.

Why is it that the smelly people are the hardest to love? I am not trying to be funny, but really. Smelly people probably need the love the most of all, and they are the people that we so often intentionally forget to see. Whether it is homeless people, alcoholics or immigrants, our society tells us that smelly people are lesser citizens, somewhere between human and not. Strange. Here I am with plenty of hugs to go around, yet I find it hard to hug the smelly ones. I guess this week I gained the perspective that I can hug the smelly kids. I can squeeze those little gems even though I don't want to get head lice or to have to "get smelly". My clothes can get washed, I can change when I get home, and if I get lice, Kaylee my wonderful colleague has already volunteered to help me with the disinfecting process. After all, having to deal with something so small will pale in comparison to knowing that hugging a smelly kid can possibly make a difference in his life. So hug someone smelly this week, or at least recongize them as a person.

My first month

I know I have been slacking in the blogging area, and now I am going to try and pull everything that I have done and experienced in the last month into a blog entry. If I tried to cover everything, I would probably use most of the infinite space on the internet...so I'll just highlight things for you.

I jumped in with all limbs when I first got here. I had exactly 1 day to find an apartment before I started training, so that was stressful and challenging. God is amazing though, and He provided the right place in exactly the right time, 5:30 that night to be exact! Then I began my training as my parents carried things to my aparmtment, ran errands and supported me in a big way! The first week was tough, I was totally out of my element, it was annoyingly hot and I doubted if I had done the right thing. Then my parents left, and I was all alone.

Thankfully I was so busy in meetings, setting up my classroom and getting ready for my students that I barely had time to do anything else. I worked really hard those first couple of weeks, and the work continues still.

School started and with it came my 20 wiggly, squirmy, grubby, lovable little family. I feel like these kids are my family, and in a way I think of them like they are, since my own family is far away. They have so much need, and at times I am overwhelmed at how much I feel like I need to compensate for what they might not get elsewhere. Most of my kids get free lunch and breakfast at school, and they are definitely children from another culture. I saw a baby the other day who had pop in his bottle, and so I don't wonder anymore why I can see cavities on their little teeth.

The school is amazing in all that they provide. I have always heard that people will live up to the expectations that you have of them, and I truly see that at Cloud. We just had parent teacher conferences and every single parent came. That is amazing! We also provide a lot of additional support to parents or families who may be struggling by having parent support, counselors and even free dental clinics for those oh so many cavities.

It is challenging to be here, there are moments when I wonder why in the world did I think this was a good idea. I get frusterated with the politics of teaching and why I can't do what I want when I want, then I come back to my class after a meeting and there they are and I forget all the frusteration. They are truly a joy, and I can honestly say that I love my job.

Wichita, here I come!

One week from today I will be packing up the Saturn and heading down to Wichita. A week ago today I formally accepted a teaching job at Cloud Elementary in Wichita, teaching 2nd grade. My attitude in this time of intense excitement, anticipation and challenge is "the kids need me".

Cloud is a school with a majority of the population consisting of Hispanic students and most of them recieve ESL, English as a second language, services. It is also a high poverty school, although it is not in an urban setting. I know this year will challenge me and probably break my hear more than once.

Right now I am purchasing and packing. Thanks to a good friend who diligently pushed my cart around IKEA, I won't be sitting on a mat in the corner of my apartment that I have yet to find! I am excited for this transition, and glad that you will be able to share it with me throught cyberspace!