teach. pray. - Complaining Ain't Loving
It's week four of the new school year. Long, long hours have been spent in the school building planning lessons, preparing materials, organizing, mentoring, and everything in between. However, I'm not complaining.
Last year, I was complaining a tremendous amount...all year long. My main complaint was about the number of students on my caseload and the nearly impossible schedule. But, I'm not complaining about that this year, because I was allowed a much-needed change. I'll leave those complaints to the new resource teachers. I didn't realize just how much my job, as a resource teacher, was impacting my health and well being until these last few weeks. I have more energy going into work each day than I've ever had. I enjoy every second of my job. It's a breath of fresh air. So, I'm not complaining.
The first Friday of September fifth graders had their first house meeting. All of our fifth graders were randomly selected and added to one of six houses. Each fifth-grade teacher leads a house (kind of like Harry Potter although we stole the idea from the Ron Clark Academy). Students can earn house points for an array of actions and behaviors. It's a friendly competition and motivator. The winning house will get a special reward. Alright, so back to that Friday I was talking about.
This particular Friday we had a modified schedule due to house meetings. I was taking a half day in order to flee town for Labor Day weekend and run a half marathon with some friends. We were running the race in memory and honor of my friend's dad, so I was feeling slightly emotional about the whole trip. On my way to work, on this particular Friday, I got a text stating my sister-in-law's grandfather had passed, which made me feel even more emotional. And, I was exhausted from the long week and lacked a lot of sleep, which didn't help with all the emotions. So, when I arrived at school, I had been crying on the way to work and just felt plain blah. But, I told myself I would not complain.
As the bell rang, students made their way to my classroom. I told them good morning and looked at their smiling faces in their house shirts. They were so excited about getting house points for wearing their shirts, and their excitement tugged at my emotional heart. After they got settled, I decided to be transparent with them and shared my feelings. I told them I was having a rough morning and was feeling kind of blah, because teachers are human too and don't wake up feeling happy every day. So, I told them I was going to share one of my favorite musicians with them and have a three-minute dance party, and they could help cheer me up. Then, we listened to Michael Franti's Hey I Love You and some of us danced while others looked at each other and laughed. We enjoyed ourselves for three whole minutes. Then, we started reading.
Our reading lesson was AMAZING!!!! I did a read aloud of The Babe and I and modeled how to clear up the fuzziness, and I got lucky and was able to use a real life in real time example. You know, because some of us don't always understand what we read, so we get fuzzy on the details. One student thought a specific part of the book was about a robbery, which the word robbed was used in the story, but a robbery was far from what happened. So, as a class, we were able to help him clear up his fuzzy. I've never had a class so engaged in a lesson before. They were hooked. I thought my heart was going to explode with pride. I hated I didn't have a full 90-minute block with my classes. We had a lot to get done. But, I wasn't going to complain.
After this incredible reading lesson, it was time for house meetings. We had two goals for our hour long house meeting. Goal one, discuss what it means to give back and the planned community service project. Goal two, create a house cheer or song. We decided teachers could not help at all with the house cheer or song. Students had to do all the work while teachers simply facilitated. During our brainstorming session, there were some bumps that led to some tears. However, I was not going to complain.
Instead, I and the other teacher in our house facilitated and guided the students through some problem-solving skills and everyone learned some important lessons in teamwork, socialization, and not always getting your way. They learned about compromise. And, I tell you, these kids blew my mind. They were able to come to a mutual agreement and distribute jobs. Every single member of our house family participated and created a really great song and dance. These kids were free to be kids. They were free to be who they are, and boy oh boy, did they shine! I was definitely NOT complaining.
After all of these events, it was time for lunch and my departure for the day. It almost hurt to leave them behind with the sub. I wanted to end the day with them and wish them a safe and happy long holiday weekend. So, I left them a note on the board before I left. I told them to enjoy their weekend, and most importantly, that I loved them.
I left the school building with a full heart. I left the school building with a humble heart. These kids were my sunshine on a cloudy morning. They lifted my spirits, however, this story could have been different. I could have complained about a million things from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed that night (and trust me-I complained a lot more the later it got and the more tired I got-and it wasn't pretty). And, had I complained the entire day, my day with these kids would have been way less full and way less enlightening. Had I spent my morning dragging about complaints, I would've missed the beauty and creativity within these kids. I would have missed out on their human hearts because I would have been too focused on my own broken heart.
Complaining overshadows the small moments-the small victories that are waiting to be had. I spent nearly seven years of my career complaining, and I missed out on a lot of small victories. This is true in my everyday life as well. Complaining is just white noise. It doesn't solve anything. In reality, it makes everything around us worse. Yet, we insist on doing it, because, we, as humans, gravitate toward actions that are easy to perform and complaining is easy. Taking responsibility for ourselves is challenging.
Will you find me complaining at some point in the near future? Yes. Yes, you will. But, will I be more mindful? Yes. Yes, I will.
I am one of God's many servants sent to spread love around this world, and my friends, complaining ain't loving.
Last year, I was complaining a tremendous amount...all year long. My main complaint was about the number of students on my caseload and the nearly impossible schedule. But, I'm not complaining about that this year, because I was allowed a much-needed change. I'll leave those complaints to the new resource teachers. I didn't realize just how much my job, as a resource teacher, was impacting my health and well being until these last few weeks. I have more energy going into work each day than I've ever had. I enjoy every second of my job. It's a breath of fresh air. So, I'm not complaining.
The first Friday of September fifth graders had their first house meeting. All of our fifth graders were randomly selected and added to one of six houses. Each fifth-grade teacher leads a house (kind of like Harry Potter although we stole the idea from the Ron Clark Academy). Students can earn house points for an array of actions and behaviors. It's a friendly competition and motivator. The winning house will get a special reward. Alright, so back to that Friday I was talking about.
This particular Friday we had a modified schedule due to house meetings. I was taking a half day in order to flee town for Labor Day weekend and run a half marathon with some friends. We were running the race in memory and honor of my friend's dad, so I was feeling slightly emotional about the whole trip. On my way to work, on this particular Friday, I got a text stating my sister-in-law's grandfather had passed, which made me feel even more emotional. And, I was exhausted from the long week and lacked a lot of sleep, which didn't help with all the emotions. So, when I arrived at school, I had been crying on the way to work and just felt plain blah. But, I told myself I would not complain.
As the bell rang, students made their way to my classroom. I told them good morning and looked at their smiling faces in their house shirts. They were so excited about getting house points for wearing their shirts, and their excitement tugged at my emotional heart. After they got settled, I decided to be transparent with them and shared my feelings. I told them I was having a rough morning and was feeling kind of blah, because teachers are human too and don't wake up feeling happy every day. So, I told them I was going to share one of my favorite musicians with them and have a three-minute dance party, and they could help cheer me up. Then, we listened to Michael Franti's Hey I Love You and some of us danced while others looked at each other and laughed. We enjoyed ourselves for three whole minutes. Then, we started reading.
Our reading lesson was AMAZING!!!! I did a read aloud of The Babe and I and modeled how to clear up the fuzziness, and I got lucky and was able to use a real life in real time example. You know, because some of us don't always understand what we read, so we get fuzzy on the details. One student thought a specific part of the book was about a robbery, which the word robbed was used in the story, but a robbery was far from what happened. So, as a class, we were able to help him clear up his fuzzy. I've never had a class so engaged in a lesson before. They were hooked. I thought my heart was going to explode with pride. I hated I didn't have a full 90-minute block with my classes. We had a lot to get done. But, I wasn't going to complain.
After this incredible reading lesson, it was time for house meetings. We had two goals for our hour long house meeting. Goal one, discuss what it means to give back and the planned community service project. Goal two, create a house cheer or song. We decided teachers could not help at all with the house cheer or song. Students had to do all the work while teachers simply facilitated. During our brainstorming session, there were some bumps that led to some tears. However, I was not going to complain.
Instead, I and the other teacher in our house facilitated and guided the students through some problem-solving skills and everyone learned some important lessons in teamwork, socialization, and not always getting your way. They learned about compromise. And, I tell you, these kids blew my mind. They were able to come to a mutual agreement and distribute jobs. Every single member of our house family participated and created a really great song and dance. These kids were free to be kids. They were free to be who they are, and boy oh boy, did they shine! I was definitely NOT complaining.
After all of these events, it was time for lunch and my departure for the day. It almost hurt to leave them behind with the sub. I wanted to end the day with them and wish them a safe and happy long holiday weekend. So, I left them a note on the board before I left. I told them to enjoy their weekend, and most importantly, that I loved them.
I left the school building with a full heart. I left the school building with a humble heart. These kids were my sunshine on a cloudy morning. They lifted my spirits, however, this story could have been different. I could have complained about a million things from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed that night (and trust me-I complained a lot more the later it got and the more tired I got-and it wasn't pretty). And, had I complained the entire day, my day with these kids would have been way less full and way less enlightening. Had I spent my morning dragging about complaints, I would've missed the beauty and creativity within these kids. I would have missed out on their human hearts because I would have been too focused on my own broken heart.
Complaining overshadows the small moments-the small victories that are waiting to be had. I spent nearly seven years of my career complaining, and I missed out on a lot of small victories. This is true in my everyday life as well. Complaining is just white noise. It doesn't solve anything. In reality, it makes everything around us worse. Yet, we insist on doing it, because, we, as humans, gravitate toward actions that are easy to perform and complaining is easy. Taking responsibility for ourselves is challenging.
Will you find me complaining at some point in the near future? Yes. Yes, you will. But, will I be more mindful? Yes. Yes, I will.
I am one of God's many servants sent to spread love around this world, and my friends, complaining ain't loving.
Hey, hey, hey no matter how life is today
There's just one thing I got to say
I won't let another moment slip away
-Michael Franti
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