Why no new blog entries for a week?

My blog has been quiet for a week because I am in New York City with a group of ten high school seniors.  My husband and I are organizing and chaperoning their senior trip.

I taught six of the students we have with us when they were in elementary school.  Two of them were in a Kindergarten music class I was assigned to cover during one of my classroom teaching years. Those two plus one more were in a first grade class I taught.  Five of the ten were in my mainstream classroom for their 5th and 6th grade years.

There is a unique and I think interesting perspective that comes from reconnecting years later with people whom you taught as children.  It gives a chance to see the results of seeds planted by you and others along the path of each one’s journey into young adulthood.

The goal is competence

We all want school children to get good grades; to memorize those spelling words, math facts, presidents, states and capitols; and to learn to turn in assignments on time. Parent Teacher Conference topics range from social skills to attitude issues to messy desks.   All those skills and minor goals are part of reaching toward a loftier, more over-arching goal.  We need to turn children needing our guidance and advice at every turn into young adults who are competent to stand on their own two feet and make good decisions, asking for help when they need it and able to navigate the difficulties and challenges which come into everyone’s life.

This group proved to me they have learned the lesson well

Yesterday my wonderful, map-reading, subway-navigating husband was down with a foul bug and had to stay behind in the hotel.  That left me to take our group into the city for the day’s activities. Alone, I could not have pulled it off.  But with me were ten capable high school seniors, ready to use their areas of strength to make up for my areas of weakness.

I am not up for the task of navigation, but I know two of the students have shown a keen interest in learning the layout of the city and how to read the maps. Map reading becomes their job.

I am not great at the subway, but one of the girls has made herself a student of the way subway stops work, and how to know when to get on and off.  She tracks our progress and tells us when it is time to get off.

I cannot both lead the way and watch our backs, but the tallest guy is willing to bring up the rear of our group, shepherding the slower ones through heavy foot traffic of Times Square’s five o’clock hour and counting people at each turn to be sure our whole group makes it together. He makes sure we don’t loose anyone.

Others shoulder tasks and take care of each other during times of need.  In short, this little group of seniors shows competence.  They step up and do what needs to be done, and our entire group benefits. The day was a success, despite the challenges it brought.

I would say the seeds planted in these students by so many teachers and family members are flourishing.  It is a beautiful thing to stand in the midst of this group of teens on a rainy New York City afternoon and think I may have had a tiny part in bringing them to this point. How glad I am to be a teacher.