Love and the First Amendment

Last week, after picking up my students from lunch, one of students came to me with a very concerned look on his face.

“Mr. Lin, Alan* said he doesn’t believe in God. Actually, he said he hates God.”

I paused for a moment. As a Christian teaching in a public school, I am not ashamed of my faith, but I need to tread carefully about the things I say and do. This student knows my faith, so after careful consideration I softly said,

“The United States is founded on freedom. We are all free to believe what we want, so Alan is free to believe and think what he wants, even if you and I don’t agree with him. Is that OK with you?”

A thoughtful look came over the student’s face.

“That’s OK with me, Mr. Lin.

As we turned to walk back into the classroom, I said,

“You know, maybe one day Alan will change his mind about God. What do you think about that?”

The student smiled and said,

“I think that would be cool.”

Over the past week I have pondered this conversation in great length. For many of us Americans, the freedoms that are granted by the first amendment are thought of much like oxygen – we recognize the importance of them, but do we really cherish each breath of freedom that we take?

The freedom of religion is guaranteed by the first amendment, but as I thought deeper about this freedom, I realized that it has deeper roots than the Constitution. For those of us that are Christians, the freedom we have to choose to love God is one of the ways God shows shows His love for us – a freedom that is granted despite the knowledge that many will not embrace Him and the subsequent heartache it causes our Creator.

Some say “love just happens,” or “you can’t help who you love.” After all, it is a feeling, and many say that we don’t choose how we feel. So… do I believe in love? And, is it a feeling?

I definitely do, and it definitely is. However, it is a feeling that we have to choose. We choose each day to love our spouses, our parents, our students. We make this choice in good times or bad, and especially in the times they have disappointed us or made us angry. We have the right, the responsibility, and the freedom to choose who we love in every situation. In return, we have the honor to receive love that was not coerced, but chosen.

Love that is given freely is a better kind of love than obligatory love. Just the way God – and the First Amendment – intended.

*names in the story are changed

Too much of what?

A question from today's lesson:

You notice the following behaviors in a person:

- Lack of concentration
- The frequent need to urinate
- Flushed skin
- Blurred vision
- Nausea, and;
- Increased hunger.

WHAT ARE THE LIKELY CAUSES?

A) Happy hour turns into happy 3 hours
B) Bachelor party mayhem
C) Sunday afternoon at the Steelers bar
D) Hyperglycemia
E) All of the above

If you answered "E", you are correct! This person may have too much alcohol in his blood OR too much glucose.

Today, instead of teaching my rambunctious 5th graders, I became a rambunctious student myself. I took a seat inside a classroom and took a professional development class on diabetes and how to properly administer insulin and glucagon. The purpose? So that I can provide emergency medical services to students in the classroom, during recess, or on field trips. Who woulda thought how many hats teachers have to wear?

Each day, I learn a little more about how to be a good teacher. Today I learned that, if I have a student that has diabetes, I can identify that he has too much glucose in his blood if he looks like someone on gameday who has had one too many from the Tortoise and the Hare.

Speaking of which... HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

In the bushes

This morning, a student raised his hand before class.

Student: "Mr. Lin, I need to talk to you."

Me: "Sure. What do you need?"

Student: "I don't have my bookbag."

Me: "Where is it?"

Student: "I left it at the bus stop."

Me: (incredulous stare)

I proceeded to ask him if he was worried if someone would take it, to which he replied,

"Nope. I hid it in the bushes before I got on the bus."

I wonder if they can prescribe me something for insanity...

May I have a job?

In order to help children build a sense of responsibility, most teachers will assign classroom jobs. OK lets be real; because we want to do everything we can possibly do to lighten our loads, we assign children jobs in our classroom. These jobs range from messengers who deliver notes to the office and other teachers, materials managers who help pass out supplies, and in my classroom I even have a student who is responsible for filling up my water bottle and taking attendance in the morning. I wanted a coffee runner too, but that was quickly nixed by the administration - dang liability issues!

These jobs are coveted by many students, so I have my students write application letters if they want to have a job. Today, I got a letter that served also as a much needed source of encouragement.

Dear Mr. Lin

May I have a Job in the classroom. I want to have a job in the classroom because I want to be a teacher. When I grow up I want to be just like you.

Thank you,

love,

****

On Monday, I'll have another Materials Manager. That 10-year old kid sure knows how to write a stellar job application =)

Please read the destructions

Although at this point in my teaching career I have only been exposed to less than 200 different students, I can say that for the most part, the kids that do really well in school are set apart by something other than pure intelligence. Instead, it is the students that are the most careful and can follow oral and written directions that seem to excel.

Last year, I had an extremely bright student whose grades were far inferior to what she was capable of. In addition, she was one of the sweetest girls imaginable. Her issue was that she is unable to process directions properly. In her case, I kept saying to my colleagues,

"Just wait. One day, it will all just come together for her, and then she'll be heading to Harvard or Stanford."

In part because of her, this year I have done by best to both write directions on the tests that I give as well as verbally discussing them. Unfortunately, for the math test I gave today, this didn't seem to help. I specifically told my students,

"There is a section on FACTORS and a section on MULTIPLES. Be sure you pay attention to WHICH term I am asking for."

You can guess which questions were the most missed questions on the test - until I reminded them AGAIN that there was a section for each. *Sigh*...

As a teacher, it is frustrating when a child you know has the ability to excel doesn't perform well on tests. In part it speaks to how testing of any kind - especially standardized tests - can be a poor measure of a child's ability to succeed. It is also frustrating because we WANT these kids to live up to their potential NOW, not later. However, at this age I need to remind myself that for many of them, their brains haven't hit that stage of development yet where processing information - especially directions - is something they do with ease.

This gets me thinking... should I be giving myself a pat on the back for the kids who excel while in my classroom? Or is their success more due to the fact that they have matured to the point where their brains can process information quickly, but also slow down enough to pay proper attention to detail? Conversely, should I be kicking myself if a student like the one I had last year isn't able to show on testing data that she is one of the brightest students that I have been around?

Only time - and the admissions departments at Harvard and Stanford - will tell. I doubt that teachers are the only reason a child learns - or doesn't learn - how to succeed. God help all the kids in my classes if we are!

Baby Tomato and the Etymology of Nicknames

I would guess that most of us have had nicknames before, and even currently. Once, I had a friend that I knew as 'Dino' which I thought was his real name - until a full year after we were friends, when I found out his birth name was 'Steve.' Sometimes, like Steve, our nicknames have obscure origins that might stick with us for no other reason than that's what people begin to call us.

Yesterday, one of my students told me a joke that I heard in a movie years ago:

Momma Tomato, Papa Tomato, and Baby Tomato were walking down the street. Baby Tomato kept lagging behind and Papa Tomato was getting annoyed. Finally, he went up to Baby Tomato and smushed him, saying "Ketchup."

She followed this up with,

Scottie is Baby Tomato. I always need to remind him to get to work and catch up!

*Note: Names have been changed to protect the innocent

Now, all teachers have many kids that lag behind in classwork because they either can't stay focused, don't think the work they're doing is important, or a little of both. Nonetheless, the nickname stuck - mostly because it is a silly reminder for the student to get back on task, but also because the kid prefers it to being called out directly for losing concentration.

Will "Baby Tomato" be a nickname that will stick with this kid (who is already a head taller than the rest of his classmates) for years? Only time will tell...

Those such as these...

I'm a firm believer that there is no such thing as a 'bad' kid - just ones that need more guidance. If there are no bad kids though, why do some get into more trouble than others? Today, I had to discipline 3 students that - against their own better judgment - began throwing things at each other. They are all friends so I know they didn't mean any harm, but during school, this obviously isn't allowed. Speaking with all three individually, they all felt

a) I cared for them

b) I wanted what was best for them

c) the consequences were fair and;

d) giving them consequences was HOW I was showing them that I cared for them and wanted what was best for them.

On a more cosmic level, this seems to parallel the question "why do bad things happen to good people?" As adults, we are often blind to the wrongs that we do. We are also blind to the fact that tribulations - as difficult as they often are - serve to strengthen us and hone our character. Our lives aren't blissful - far from it at times. Speaking all to familiarly, it is easy to think 'why is God doing this to me?' instead of pushing forward and embracing our trials with the full knowledge that what we are going through will produce perseverance. That same perseverance in return will build character, and with character, our hope will be strengthened.

My students understood that discipline was a way for me to build their character, and for this I am happy. At some point though - if the reason for consequences aren't communicated effectively or if they are told enough times they are bad kids - they may start to believe that they are bad. Instead of an end result of hope being produced, despair is the outcome.

My desire? To lead students to choose the path that leads to hope. More importantly, to choose that same path each day.

Trivia night

There are 17 syllables in a haiku, written in a 5-7-5 pattern. How do I know that? I'm a teacher; poetry is inevitably one of the writing units we teach. On trivia night at my favorite sports bar a few weeks back, I scored a point for my team by answering that question correctly.

Pyrite

Broken soul halts sleep
Dawn comes bearing hopeful minds
Deep breath, actor, me

Today I needed a mental health day. Wistful thinking...

Hurricane Warning...

Stop the presses everyone - it looks like Armageddon has arrived!

As much as we can make light of the fact that we 'only' had a 5.9 earthquake and that Floridians have hurricanes all the time and survive, a 10-year old experiencing these things for the first time has every right to be frightened.

I was reading through their daily journals today and I came across several students who wrote about their fears. It is incredible how much kids have to say if only they had someone to listen and take them seriously! The depth of their thoughts is beyond anything I could have imagined, speaking with an earnestness that can only come from a mind still so uncorrupted.

If only a standardized test could show the value of child's thoughts, then perhaps we could truly have no child left behind.

The Replacements

Since we will be one short on our 5th grade team starting on Monday, we have been conducting interviews for her replacement for the past week or two. Inevitably, we always come to the conclusion that the person isn't the right fit for one reason or another and say,

"If only..."

(fill in the quality missing)

Our most recent candidate was someone that we liked a lot however. When I turned to my science counterpart, I said that she reminded me of the teacher that she would be replacing. To my surprise, my colleague's response was,

"Me too!!! I think that's one of the reasons we liked her so much."

Isn't it interesting that when we lose someone important to us, we often draw comparisons to others that we know - maybe even the person whose spot they are taking? I know that many children that suffer through parents getting divorced or being widowed often have trouble embracing a step-parent for this very reason. In reality, everyone has God-given strengths that we can embrace. On the flip side, we all have inherent flaws as well - ones that those around us love us enough to overlook.

Our team mom will always be our team mom, even after she officially starts her new position. I also know our new teammate won't be an exact replica of our old one. However, I hope I (and my team) can embrace her in the same way. Her qualities are sure to go far beyond her semblance to the person she's taking the place of.