Buckets of Learning

LIFE

Ah, life on a Midwest farm!  It can be very interesting especially in those well below zero days.  A few months ago I asked my farmer husband Brian to show me how to operate the new feeder wagon we acquired to deliver feed to the fence line bunks.  I thought maybe I could help him out by feeding the cattle when he was out late on the road driving semi.  He responded with, "That's not something you need to know."  End of discussion but NOT the end of my thinking about it.  I thought maybe he didn't trust me with that BEAUTIFUL new feeder wagon.  Maybe those multiple trips in the ditch on icy days proved a warning to him not to trust me with any expensive equipment.

So....on the 8 inches of snow day he had to drive to Illinois to deliver beans.  He said there was one thing I could do for him and that was to feed the cattle.  Okay, but how would he trust me to drive the feeder wagon on a day of less than favorable conditions?  Oh, no, the feeder wagon was not in this equation.  No, this task involved carrying buckets of corn from the bin over to the fence line bunks.

So 16 buckets later....I knew it was definitely time to learn how to drive the feeder wagon.  Yes. life on a Midwest farm is never dull!

TEACHING
Well, my new best friend about whom I posted my email in a previous blog served his three nights of detention and announced to the class this week that my class was his favorite!  So, I can only conclude the following:
1.  It is important to develop relationships with students, however, it is even more important to believe so strongly in what you are teaching and its importance that you will not allow bad behavior to interfere with you accomplishing your instruction.  Students do not respect a teacher who only goes through the motions or one that doesn't care enough about classroom atmosphere to discipline.  I discipline out of concern that a student learn self-control, out of a concern for the learning of everyone else in the room, and out of a concern that what I am teaching is important for them to know.
2.  I always strive to develop a way of taking what we learn and personalize it for students.  Most recently, we read THE ULTIMATE GIFT.  The concluding assessment was an essay test where students had to apply two of the gifts from the story to their own lives.  In one chapter, students come up with a GOLDEN LIST of ten things they are grateful.  They also look at how they would spend their last day on earth; similar to the Bucket List (if you have seen that movie).  Here are some excerpts from three student papers:
STUDENT 1
In the gift of gratitude I would teach my family that in life there are many things to be thankful for; things like presents aren't really gifts.  To be grateful you would have to be happy about all things.  I am thankful for:  family, friends, holidays, friendly people, video games, hamburgers, summer, winter, and school.
STUDENT 2
With the gift of learning, I really would apply this gift.  It helps you learn that hard work leads to good dedication.  This will be a good lesson to use in the future because I will have some downs and will get some frustrations.  This book led me through a journey that will never leave my head.  The gift of learning is one I will use in the present and the future.
STUDENT 3
Like Jason, I feel that I have learned the gift of work.  I enjoy working at our restaurant because at the end of the day, when the last person has left, I can think about all that I had accomplished.  It is even better when I can say I did most of the waiting.  I enjoy seeing happy faces when people leave because that usually lets me know that I did a good job.  I wish to continue to work hard at accomplishing my goals like Jason has dedicated the rest of his life to helping others.
     When I was reading this chapter on the gift of giving, it encouraged me to volunteer or spend time helping others once a day like Jason was assigned to do.  So far I have been successful.  Reading this story and chapter I have also decided to work at the restaurant for free.  I have also been vacuuming the apartment and restaurant without being asked.  I have made a goal for being able to fund a school for the underprivileged.

Wow!  Wonder if the changes this book have created in students are evident at home?  I love reading this type of test when students have to actually apply life lessons to their own lives.  That could be why I enjoy blogging--it's authentic, it makes me reflect, and it causes me to select only the significant about which to blog.

That ends my third entry,
Mom

Snow Day in the Midwest

Eight inches of snow

wind 30 mph...

electricity off 7 hours...

candles burning...oil lamps glowing...

5 foot drifts...

roads blocked...

schools closed...

cattle yards to be cleared...

water tanks to be thawed...

driveways to be plowed...

nothing like winter in the Midwest.  

No global warming here!

Muddling Through Life and Middle School

I have now fully entered the 21st century since I feel compelled to BLOG! Several years ago I blogged for Iowa State University as "A Voice From the Trenches." It was here I learned the power of reflection and was challenged to look more deeply at my teaching practices. A part of me has been longing to, once again, develop that deep reflection in my daily journey as a teacher. With this blog, I hope to discover more not only about my teaching but about my life in general. A gigantic task for anyone. Can blogging really accomplish what years of therapy cannot do for many people? I hope so especially as a farmer's wife who can't afford a therapist.  So as not to confuse my readers, I will label them by LIFE and TEACHING...go where your interests lead you.

LIFE

It might be my middle age. It might be my empty nesting, It might be that I no longer have responsibility raising kids but instead responsibility in caring for aging mothers and a grandmother (age 101). I long to express my inner ramblings as I muddle through life. Somehow I know that reflecting through this blog will in some way help me to make sense of this chaotic world. I once read that we view the world from the underside of an embroidered piece.  Many of you know that place, where all of the strings hang and it is difficult to make out the pattern of the embroidery. God views the world from the embroidered side. Only he can see from his view point the beauty that the chaos is becoming. Many times I long to see that pattern so I can enjoy the view. For now when I am enjoying the view, I content myself with singing loudly and quite off key when no one is around. This occurs usually in the kitchen as I am doing dishes or cooking and in yesterday's case, when my husband was still in the field trying to get the corn combined. Yesterday was a singing kind of day because I had joyous news that my dear friend who thought she had breast cancer does not have to go back to the doctor for six months. She said it was her own personal miracle. I took her miracle personally and sang, "My soul rejoice!" Love those miracles!

TEACHING

So this may be the real reason I wanted to blog this evening. For those with middle school teaching experience, you know full well of the bipolar type of teaching existence one has when working with middle school students. One day can be filled with students telling you, "You are one cool and rocking teacher!" (words I heard yesterday) And the next day words tumble forth that let you know you are on the LEAST FAVORED list of teachers.  Today the latter occurred as I emailed two sets of parents describing the disrespectful behavior of their child they had birthed.    One email I sent read:  


PARENT NAME (removed),
I called and left a voice message but also wanted to follow up with an email.  Your son (name removed) owes me three nights of detention (3:20-4:00) for extreme disrespect in my class today.  I told him he needed to redo an assignment because his grade was poor (14/36).  He began to talk back and yell that all teachers think they have the power and that I was in a bad mood and took it out on him.  I cannot have a student be so disrespectful in class.  I finally sent him out but he needs to make up time for me.  He wasted my class time by disturbing everyone including me.  I also want him to write an apology letter to me.  I know this probably seems lame but he needs to understand that a teacher also has feelings and I am leaving school very upset today because of how he ruined my class.  I would appreciate your help with this matter.
Mrs. Me


I especially like the part about teachers having feelings. He was wrong about the part of me being in a bad mood and taking it out on him...but I tell you bad mood is what I ended up being in by the end of class.   Just thinking about it still puts me in a very bad mood!  John Dewey said: "Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself."  I would like to alter this to read:  "Teaching is not preparation for life; teaching is life itself."  Those who teach know that you live it...you can prepare all you want for hours on end but it's the living it within the classroom that brings it to life. 

That ends my first entry,

Mom