last year i started a tradition in the nugget classroom during the month of february.
each day, when a child did something kind for another person, they wrote it down on a small paper heart. we taped the hearts to the wall outside our classroom to share with our school family and encourage them to act in love. this year we did it again and i'm telling you, the hearts of these kids simply astound me. at the end of last week i read a book to them by jacqueline woodson called "each kindness." this book was particularly gripping for me because it seeks to show a different angle about acting kindly towards others. every day i tell my kids, "you can choose to be kind or you can choose to be unkind...but whatever you choose you can never take back." the story talks about a little girl who comes to a new school. the narrator, another little girl, talks about the many opportunities she had to be kind but never acted upon. eventually, the new little girl moves away, leaving the narrator wondering about all the wasted opportunities she had to share kindness. see, usually we get the chance to make up for our acts of unkindness. we see the co-worker with whom we were short. we run into the family member to whom we could have been more polite. we live with our kids to whom we can show more patience in the future. essentially: we usually get second chances when it comes to kindness. but this isn't always the case. you can't take back what you said to the direct tv guy on the phone. you can't back up the car in the starbucks drive-thru to apologize for being rude. and as in the case of "each kindness," sometimes the person you were "meaning" to be kind to suddenly moves away. all that little girl's good intentions meant nothing to the little girl who moved away because she never ACTED on them. love does things. kindness requires action. it can be humbling, frustrating, and downright difficult to be kind sometimes but the people who drive us the craziest are oftentimes the people who need our kindness the most. when was the last time someone was blown away by your kindness? your compassion? your humility? when was the last time someone was blow away by your pride? your stubborn nature? your temper? when we show one small act of kindness, it ripples out further than we can ever imagine. after reading the book on friday i took the nuggets outside where we each picked out a small smooth stone. when we came back in i called each child over to me where i had a big bowl of water. i asked the child what kind thing they did and then had them drop their stone into the water. the ripples spread out to the very edges of the bowl. "this is what your kindness does," i said. "it goes on and on and on." the world tells my kids people who look different or think differently than they do are bad and they need to either fear them or be unkind to them WRONG. in our classroom you don't need to compromise your convictions to be compassionate. jesus teaches us to be gracious and kind just as he was. i'm proud to say my kids got it right this february. and i couldn't be more tickled. with love, ld
0 Comments
in the days leading up to this holiday of love i planned some glittery and candy-colored activities for the nuggets in room 200.
one of the neatest things we did was write a class book. the topic: what is love? here were some of the results. love is... -chicken (not sure about this one but there's no judgement in our classroom family) -playing with my sisters -god helping me -getting along with everyone -learning at school -my dad taking me out to eat -hugging my mom how precious is the heart of a child, am i right? over the weekend i began to think more about what love is. what is love to someone who has experienced loss? what is love to someone who is sick? what is love to someone who has regret? the thing is, i think our understanding of love changes and evolves as we grow. i used to think i knew exactly what love meant. love was something i read in a book. something i saw in a movie. something i witnessed in watching my parents and grandparents as i grew up. but love for me? well, today it's different than what it was even a year ago...and i'm starting to learn that's ok. here is how i would describe love today. from a snuggled up spot on my couch watching the snow fall. love is a small peanut-shaped necklace beautifully quirky and unique. love is a cooking class where you can create something equally as delicious as it is beautiful. love is flowers, of any kind, demonstrating that things which grow and eventually die should be adored and appreciated for what they are when you have them. much like people, if you think about it. love is kids accidentally calling you "mommy." love is a pink mark on your arm reminding you that you are so much stronger than you ever believed. love is warm crock-pot chili. love is a phone call with your best friend. love is a letter. love is a good book, a snuggly dog, and a cold glass of pinot. love is you and love is me. love is having a god who doesn't give up on me even when i'm foolish enough to give up on him from time to time. love is having a family. love is relentlessly pursuing the hearts of people who are, at times, difficult to love. because who among us has never been difficult to love at some point? i believe love was created by someone who loved us very much. and i believe the purpose of this great love was to give it in return. love can be messy, exhausting, painful, and even tragic. but. love can also be exhilarating, redeeming, and healing. i think that's why people are so infatuated by love. in my humble opinion: love is magic. and i believe in this magic very much. my valentine's wish is that you, whoever you are, experience this magic in some way today. and if you do, it then becomes your duty to share that love with someone else. for what is the point of love if you can't share it with others? happy love day. xo, ld i recently read an article written by a college student imploring her fellow peers to stop using the word "retarded."
the article was concise, well-articulated, and clear in its message. the word retarded has been socially constructed over the years into an extremely negative slang word used to describe someone who is "slow." i was thinking, "what an interesting article; girl power to the author" until.... i saw comments at the end of the post. the first: "this article is retarded." followed by: "whoever wrote this is a retard." and my personal favortie: "this person is being over-sensitive." SERIOUSLY? today. this shit is happening today? in a time when there are more developmental disabilities to name and the autism spectrum is growing at the fastest rate in its history. in a time where a projected 1 in 5 students will have a disability of some sort during his/her school career. in a time when women are running for president and children of every race, religion, and background play together at recess and on the same soccer team. you're going to have the audacity to use a word so grossly rooted in hate and fear? MY SIX YEAR OLDS UNDERSTAND ACCEPTANCE BETTER THAN YOU. the fact of the matter is simple: retarded is an ugly, hateful, cruel word and if that isn't enough to make you think before speaking then perhaps base not saying it off of the millions of children, teenagers, and adults who are living with disabilities in the united states alone. quite frankly the only "slow" individuals in my mind are the ones who can't wrap their heads around the indecency of being rude and unkind with their words. in my classroom we talk almost daily about the impact of our rhetoric. how even when we don't mean for something to be offensive we can hurt others. if you wouldn't use the word in front of someone with a disability isn't that a pretty clear indication that you shouldn't be saying it at all? i'm so tired of the excuses, "my parents say it, my grandparents say it." YOU are the only person responsible for what comes out of YOUR mouth. so do us all a favor and shape up. coming at you live from the soapbox, ld p.s in response to the over-sensitive comment: no, we're not being over-sensitive...you're being an over-wordicantsaybecausekidsreadthis. |
archives
July 2020
categories |