Tuesday, September 12, 2017

One for Tuesday


The first Day 6
of the cycle.
My kids go to TAA,
and I finally have some
prep time,
to get stuff done.
And the computers are down.

I can't do
anything,
I need to get done,
so I do
a bunch of other stuff.

But it throws
the whole day off.

My switch class comes,
settling relatively quickly,
considering they just had
TAA in the morning
for the first time.

Student A sits down,
ready to go.
He is a different kid
than last year,
even if it might
not last.
I'll take
what I can get.
And keep reminding him
how awesome he is
and what good choices
he is making.

Student B gets comfortable
in his seat
beside me,
and asks
if we will
meditate again
today.

I tell him we will
today and
every day.

I take the opportunity
to invite my students,
especially my experienced ones,
to consider
leading meditations,
while I am away at
my conference
later this week.

I have a few
conferences and
presentations
coming up,
and with the High Holidays,
I will be away
quite a bit in
September
and early October.
I remind them
they will have
many chances
and encourage them
to take them.

On that note,
we begin,
lights dimmed,
music on,
inhale, two, three, four,
hold, two,
exhale, two, three, four.
They are getting
used to it.

Most put their
heads down,
including Student A,
happy to relax,
and breathe,
for a minute,
or five.

Student B started out
strong,
or calm,
less restless,
more settled.

But a blip
in the music
from a glitch
on the Ipad
distracted him,
and caused him
to bleep,
literally,
that was the noise
he made,
a few times,
before I reached
his side,
and asked him,
why
he would give
a machine
such power
over him?

I reminded him,
and everyone,
that they held
their power
in their breath,
and no one,
or nothing,
could take it away,
unless they
allowed it.
And that they
deserved better.

As I spoke,
I lost the count,
but it didn't matter.
I told them that,
and reminded them
to breathe naturally,
and a few moments later,
the track was done.

I closed
the meditation
and started
the class.

It, and the rest
of the day
flew by.

Exploratory outside
with all the grade 8's,
a walk to the park
on a beautiful day,
and with the computers down,
what else could we do?

After lunch,
my switch class
came back
for our first
French class.

About 20 minutes in
Student B said
he wanted to
meditate again.
Almost half
indicated they'd
agree,
but it didn't seem
to flow
in the moment.
But definitely
next time,
I told him.

After break,
was French again.
But this year
is different.
I still have
my homeroom,
but I am also
co-teaching,
with the third
grade 8 teacher
in the row
of portables.

He has been
teaching for
over 15 years,
but was never
required
to teach
French before.

Though it is
familiar
to teach,
and work with,
large groups,
it is different
to have
two classes
together
for French.
It will be
challenging,
but interesting,
and strange,
and different.

Today
it was so
strange
and different
I didn't even
realize
my homeroom hadn't
meditated
that day.

I knew
something
was off,
but I thought
it was the whole
situation.

Surprisingly,
none of my students
said anything.
I wonder
if they
noticed
and will
ask them
tomorrow.

The class
itself
went okay,
for a first
French class,
with 48 kids
in a room,
more than half
of whom
have no
interest
in learning
French,
and a third,
who are still
learning
English.

An old story,
part of the
institution
of education.

At least next time,
I will know
what is off
and be sure
we meditate
at the end of the day,
before French
with both classes
on Day 6.

At least,
we spent the
last 15 minutes
outside.

And, once again,
tomorrow
is another day.


No comments:

Post a Comment