Convention

I just got back from a two-day convention in South Bend, Indiana. All of the teachers and administrators from our school go, spend the time recharging, reconnecting, not correcting papers, and not officially planning for next week. However, God in His infinite goodness and blessings, always gives me gifts at this convention in the way of great ideas, new approaches, and new tools for leading His young ones toward the life of learning and excitement about living for and serving Him. I mean it, He never fails.

One year as I was planning for the sixth graders' turn at leading chapel, it occurred to me that "Stomp" would be fun and entertaining for the listeners, age kindergarten to fifth grade. Since I knew nothing about how to go about putting together this kind of program, this idea just kind of ended up in the recycle bin of ideas that have not reached their time. The lower floor of the convention hall is filled with vendors, fundraiser people, Christian college recruiters, usually a lollipop seller (yay!), and this year a music store. Walking up to their booth, I was daunted by how much sheet music and the variety of books they had for sale. Rows and rows of boxes of music, all catalogued. In the first box I looked, ON SALE, was "Stomp" for Christians, to be done by kids using kitchen trash cans, laundry baskets,... right there. On sale. Including the cd with or without words. Tears of gratitude and amazement filled my eyes, and we did a great chapel, preaching the gospel amid thumps and praises. God, you are so good.

Another year there were very few workshops that invited me to attend, but one jumped off the page. The Maoris from New Zealand use sticks to pound out a rhythm, tapping them together, even tossing them from one to another. A workshop leader taught fifty teachers sitting on the floor how to do this rhythm thingy singing a really lame and never again to leave my jukebox for a head, and I was hooked. Every year since then the sixth graders have learned this rhythm, tossing them back and forth to each other, singing this awful tune. When the older kids go by my room while the newer ones are learning it, they will come in and join. They never forget it. God, you are so good.
(Here is the youtube video of last year's kids doing the Maori sticks. I hope you can get it to work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzdetSgS7YE )

This year, I could hardly wait until God gave me my gifts. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... He prepared me by having a sixth grader ask, "Mrs. Kolberg, how do we know the Bible is true other than that it tells us it is?" This year's class really asks great questions. God led me to a poster for $4.oo called "50 Evidences that the Bible is True". Alexis, you and I are gonna have fun with this.

Another child asked, "How do I read this wikipedia article and then change it so I can use my own words to write what it says?" Again, hard question. I have always struggled teaching kids how to do this. I can do it myself, but try telling a 12-year-old how not to plagiarize. This year the convention was filled with literacy workshops. How to help kids read, both for fun and for content, and HOW TO GET RELUCTANT WRITERS TO WRITE. I attended three of three workshops in a row showing exactly how to teach kids to do just what I needed to teach them. God, you are so good.

A man with a video crew was outside the convention center asking silly questions of people as they walked in. We saw that video this morning in a general session. They were trying to sell their service to Christian schools to help them market. It was great. This man stopped me and asked if I would rather be in school or at this convention. My eyes rolled up, I tapped my chin with my finger, and said, "Let me think..." I was just trying to be silly, and of course that session ended up in the video, but they edited it so that it looked like I didn't know the answer to a really dumb question. Argghh. I wish he would ask me again, because my answer would be a resounding, "I can't wait to get back to school Monday and begin using the gifts God has given me. " God, you are so good.

The impetus for this blog was reading my fantastic sister's newest entry about getting out of kids' way in their love for and excitement about learning. It is my desire to light fires under kids whose have gone low or out, and to extend this excitement to their search for and service of the King. Thanks, Jan.

Thanks for listening. God is so good.

Giving thanks.

Summer is the best. I love summer. It is more than just time off, it is refreshment, renewal, giving time for those things you wish you could do during the school year. Summer is always my time, and I joke that this is the reason I teach. If I had a "real" job, I would still have to get up and decide what to wear and face the world on its terms every day in June, July, and August. But as a teacher, it doesn't matter, to some degree, what I decide to wear and what time I get up. Dare I say a "yippee"?



This summer has been an exceptional one, however. I have been to see my family in Iowa (oh, don't bother to go there...not beautiful at all...), and have regained myself because of time spent with people I love and who love me and are EXACTLY like me. There is no other real affirmation from the world to equal time spent with those who share the same genetic input, the same history, the same viewpoints on many things. I thank God for that time, and ask for more.



The one better affirmation and validation comes from our Father. He is there whenever I need Him. He understands me better than I do. He has translated me from the kingdom of darkness to His glorious Kingdom of Light. I love Him because He first loved me. I will seek His face more diligently every day.



My beautiful sister Jan said she is going to try to do ten little things each day to reinforce her idea of self-worth. I think that is a great idea, though I can't think of ten. I can think of five, though!



Anyway, I thank my beautiful family for time well spent. I'll be back.

Giving this a whirl

Being new to blogging, I hesitate to say anything of much import. I am just trying my hand at getting this going. I tell my sixth grade beginning writers that when you have nothing to say, just put pen to paper and start writing, and see what comes out. Okay. Put my money where my mouth is...

Sometimes it is hard to keep going when the world focuses its attention on me and what I am trying to do. It is very true you can't please everyone. This week brought a storm of criticism around me, and it cuts to the quick. When my work brings me to put myself out there one hundred percent, and someone slices out a meaty chunk of my heart and self, it is very difficult to not just quit and go home. Fooey on them.

Parenthetically, it was one parent of twenty sets who expressed her dislike of my teaching style and personality. Not exactly a storm. Affirmation abounds from the rest of the group. Many times I hear thanks and hurrahs from different directions, but one good lambasting from one stressed-out, protecting-her-cub-mom brings me to tears in a heap on the floor. What a wimp. Maybe the lesson I must learn from this should carry over to my classroom and my interactions with 12-year-olds. No matter how many times a child (or mature :P adult) hears praise, one careless misspoken word can bring all of them crashing down.

Okay. Good for the first post.