"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." --Henry David Thoreau


"Service is the rent we pay for being, It is the very purpose of life and not something you do in your spare time."

--Marion Wright Edelman


"The fruit of love is SERVICE. The fruit of service is PEACE" --Mother Teresa

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Moment of Gratitude #4

Over the years I have learned alot through my work with children but if I could name one of the most important things to remember it would be this: You must celebrate the little moments to appreciate the big moments.

I have been working really hard on this reading room at my primary school. Between ordering books, receiving donations, cleaning and preparing resources I have been up to my head in work. My counterpart and myself have been wandering the school attempting to find anything we could put in our room to make it kid friendly. Its been a fun little treasure hunt we have embarked on and it lead to some big winners today. We found two old tables that were the perfect height for our little readers, a teachers table with plenty of room to work and the BIG treasure, an old gymnastics mat that will now be in our new reading area. It was piled under tons of books and filled with dirt but I was determined to clean it up and make it work.

After unloading the new books I received from Darien Book Aid (thanks guys!) and rearranging the room, I really felt like the area was starting to take shape but was still worried about if the kids would really enjoy this "nontraditional" set up. This is where the beauty of my job comes into play...

The lunch bell rings and I felt like I was back in the Midwest on a farm herding cows. In a matter of two minutes I had 20 children in my little room jumping up and down ecstatic at all the new stuff. They were like children in a candy store, admiring the new pictures on the walls, the new books and furniture lining the walls. After settling them down I got myself caught up in helping a student with her math. I look up a few minutes later and nearly burst into tears. I saw four children at the easel with magnetic letters making word families I had just taught them moments before; I saw three children admiring the new books I brought in while trying to determine which to read first; I saw 6 kids with their shoes off lounging on the new reading mat peacefully reading books to themselves; and a group of girls quietly coloring pictures as they smile from ear to ear. I was truly in awe as I watched kids chose to come to my room instead of running around the school like mad men for an hour.

It's these small moments that make me cherish what I'm doing and realize just the gift I have been given.

This truly is "The hardest job you'll ever love"

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

PBC Presentation and Camera Hijack

Did you know that high school boys are STILL immature, giggly and disrespectful to authority? no way right? well...I learned the hard way today.

Myself and another volunteer designed a workshop for secondary students on "Building Healthy Relationships" in hopes of raising awareness about domestic violence. Grenada and most of the Caribbean isn't well known for their healthy relationships, with violence and infidelity deeply rooted into the culture. It is going to take a drastic social movement and shifting in thinking for the rates of domestic violence, rape, incest, etc to decrease, but with each workshop and awareness drive we hope to begin that shift in thinking. We are here to bring about change right?

Today we introduced the Power and Control wheel to the students, gave them scenarios and had discussion about what they felt were the proper ways to express themselves in relationships. It was shocking to hear high school boys truly believe that hitting their significant other was absolutely acceptable because "they deserved it" and "thats just what you do". It was tough to swallow, but I tried my hardest to keep an open mind to the cultural differences while explaining the correct actions in relationships. It was a true test of my ability to bite my tongue.




After my tongue was bleeding from biting it for an hour (kidding), I rushed to my primary school to see my sweet innocent little angels in the 1st and 2nd grade. They seemed to be more out of control then usual, so I decided to have a bit of a "do whatever" day in the reading room. We played ABC memory and I read them two story books. They LOVED it. I worked with 4 children who are struggling readers. At lunch time the children swarmed my classroom as usual, wanting to color. I thought "ok, whatever, as long as they are having fun". At the end of the hour long lunch (i know what your thinking, an hour lunch is ridiculous), I had glitter EVERYWHERE, seven cards that read "Happy Teachers Bay" (still working on the difference in B's and D's) and books spread out across the floor. Thankfully, I'm the non traditional teacher that gets to send kids back to their normal classes when the bells rings. THANK GOD!

Oh yea....And they got ahold of my camera also. They LOVE taking pictures for themselves. Here is the aftermath. I love my life.