Documentation

Ooohhh, blog.

Last night, I looked at my "March 2010" blogs. It's amazing to see and remember where I was just about one year ago. It's crazy, for instance, to remember that just one year ago I was a battered shipwreck. Yet this morning, when I prayed, I imagined myself talking to God on a sunrise shore. We chatted in a beached row-boat while the quiet morning waves lapped the sides, and then finally we pushed off.

And when I considered that I was ship-wrecked just one year ago, and now I'm setting off into that crazy ocean again-- I think, "Wow. Can't believe I got here. Thanks for the healing, God."

Reading my old blogs made me wish I wrote more regularly. I remember very little of what I DON'T get written down.

So how about I write things down that I'd like to remember?

Good things:
- An Ashland trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival with my AP class. Felt proud of my students-- I have really classy students. They're polite and intelligent and well-spoken and just CLASSY. Sometimes I miss the rag-tag crew of my student teaching days-- but since I'm with a different crew now, I'm enjoying them for who THEY are.

- One of my AP students, C, has "taken me under her wing." It's almost like I'm a new kid at school and she wants to make sure I have a friend and feel comfortable-- it's incredibly sweet, actually. When we go into chapel, she waves me over, "Miss W! Sit with us!" She and her friend asked to be my Ashland roommates. On the bus ride down, she would call me to the back of the bus and say, "Miss W! Will you tell us stories?" And every once in a while, I'll make a comment in class and she'll stop by my room after school and say, "I just wanted to check in with you and see how things are going..." I sort of love her.

- In fact, C and two other students stopped by my class yesterday after school and we all just talked for a while-- about faith at our school, where students are at, what adults they feel comfortable talking to... I stressed about wishing that our school was a "safe" enough place for kids to openly question aspects of Christianity, or be real about the issues they're dealing with. I worried aloud about trying to make my classroom "safe" but acknowledged that kids still seem hesitant about being truly transparent. One of the girls said, "I think you've done a good job with that actually. I don't think anyone's ever felt judged in YOUR classroom."

For someone who has a history of being judgmental-- that was so good to hear.

What else do I want to remember?

- Had a great discussion with the Seniors about Utopias and Dystopias yesterday to kick off our next unit on Fahrenheit 451-- had them each imagine what THEIR personal paradise or nightmare would be. It was fascinating to discuss with them their ideas-- and, even in my little classes, the various attempts that humanity has made to create world harmony emerged. Some kids were in favor of tighter government oversight and rules; other kids wanted no government at all, or a very limited one. Some people stressed that everyone should share with everyone. Some people wanted Christianity to be taught to all; other people asserted that freedom of religion was imperative for a Utopian society. Many kids wanted badly to create a Utopia where humans were perfect, even though I stressed that their Utopias should still take into consideration that humans are still fallen, messed up people. "No jails, no government, no rules" they said-- "we all just treat each other with respect." Some kids brought it all back to education-- "Unless we do a better job training people in what's RIGHT, we'll HAVE to have all those rules. It all comes back to the SCHOOL."

In 45 minutes, they unknowingly endorsed Communism, Totalitarianism, Anarchy, Democracy, Socialism, and even the philosophy that our school bases itself on-- which many of them grumpily complain about.

It was amazing to see. Humans are so HUMAN.

At the end of class I said, "Folks-- you're seniors. You're about 5 minutes away from graduation. This is YOUR world now. What are you going to do to make sure it's more of a UTOPIA than a DYSTOPIA? How will you make your world a better place?"

- Yesterday was a fun teaching day. I guess most of my life these days revolves around teaching stuff.

- Although! It was a fun St. Patrick's day party at Malia and Peter's.

- And: the cherry trees are beginning to bloom! This LONG WINTER is finally ending...!

Bit of a boring blog I guess-- but one perk to having a blog that's not massively popular is that I can really just write for me. If you enjoy it too-- whoever YOU are-- well hey, how nice. :)

Incidentally, I've given up Facebook for Lent. Felt like it was become a dangerous time suck... and thought a break from it could only be a healthy thing. You know what I miss the most? Coming up with interesting status updates and sending those out into the populated void. How narcissistic is that??

Ha-- humans are so HUMAN. Good thing there's grace.