“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” (Dr. Seuss)

I tried to sit down and write this post last week when I arrived home but the words wouldn’t come. I guess I needed a few days to process what I wanted to say. Here’s my attempt to use words to describe my final thoughts.

When I was getting ready to leave for this experience, my sister gave me the advice “to embrace everything” on my trip. I believe that I was successful at doing that: I ate and drank everything that was put in front of me; I visited as many places as I could; I listened and learned as much as I was able. I took hold of all of these opportunities with the knowledge that this was a once in a lifetime experience. I’m definitely smiling because it happened!

Upon arriving in Michigan, I had a bit of a sad tummy so stayed close to home for a couple of days. However, on Thursday, I was able to spend the afternoon with Dee and Dora DeMaso who made all of this possible. They are such a joy to have in my life! I’m very blessed and have learned a lot through my conversations with them. They have such generous hearts and truly love our community and educators!

While planning my experience, I had to make a budget by estimating daily costs of food, transportation and other activities. I had exemplary hosts in both of my locations who made me a part of their family. Even with all of the activities that we participated in, I had some money left when I arrived home last week. So….after a conversation with Dee and Dora, it has been decided that I will be using that money for a reciprocal teaching visit for Esperanza (from Puerto Vallarta) to come and visit my classroom sometime in the next school year! When I shared this generosity with Esperanza, she was moved to tears. She is going to start the process on her end (she’ll need a Visa) and we will see what happens. We are both very excited to keep our learning experience moving forward!

In the next few days, I’ll be sharing some more pictures ( I took almost 2,000!) with some short explanations. My plan is to keep this blog live as I return to school in August. I’m thinking of how I can do that while involving my classroom students. I’m so blessed to have had all of you follow along on this journey with me! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!

I’m from a very small town so visiting and navigating a city of 8 million people has been at times overwhelming. For my most recent school visit, I made the trip totally on my own. I called an Uber (actually the first 2 cancelled) to take me to the school. When his message came that he had arrived, he was not in the place that I was waiting. I was able to send him the address again and he showed up a couple of minutes later. I told him I only spoke English so showed him the address I needed to be taken to. He dropped me off and….it was the wrong school! Thank goodness it was the sister school of where I needed to be and the doorman, God bless him, used pointing and simple words to head me in the right direction. I ended up being a few minutes late but was very proud that I had made it there on my own.

I had the opportunity to visit Colegio Santo Antonio which is a private school in a local neighborhood of Belo Horizonte. Starting this year, all students begin English instruction during their first year of school. The school has two daily sessions for students. Half of the student body attends from 7:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. while the other half comes in from 1:30 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. This means that teachers share a room with one using it in the morning session and the other during the afternoon time.

I attended the afternoon session and visited classrooms with four of the English teachers while they instructed 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade students. I always ask the teachers where they learned their English because it’s interesting to me to know a little bit of their background. The answers for these teachers were: exchange program to the U.S. and Canada; university classes and study outside of the regular school program. They were very accommodating in allowing me to have a view of their day.

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I first went with Carol (I met three teachers with this name so apologize if I’m mixing anything up!) to a 2nd grade classroom. The English teachers like to have students practice asking questions and hearing my American “accent” to let them hear my pronunciation. This group asked me many questions. I was able to pass out some Sugar Bear balloon cards (donated by my neighbor who is a hot air balloon pilot) and the students were thrilled to receive them. They asked many questions and I believe covered all of what my favorite things are.

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I next joined Jonathan (spelling?) in a 3rd grade classroom. He is a highly energetic teacher and was able to keep the attention of 32 students. I saw him use some classroom management techniques that I’ve seen one of my peers, Ryan Saylor, use in his classroom too. Students were divided into teams (rows) and all received 3 points to begin with. They could earn more by correctly identifying the English word on flash cards displayed. Students could also lose points by not paying attention or doing other disruptive things. I chuckled when I heard this teacher use some midwestern words, “you guys,” so asked where he’d learned his English. He had spent some time in Georgia and will actually be returning there in a couple of weeks for a long term learning opportunity. He will be sadly missed at this school and I wish him well on his journey! I was able to share some Battle Creek Bombers stickers (donated for my trip) with this group and they were excited to receive them.

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I then went with Lilly (spelling?) to observe her English class (I believe it was 2nd grade). It was interesting to watch her use the same curriculum book as the previous teacher but present it in a different way. This is her first year in this school and she’s doing a wonderful job with large groups of young students. Most of the classes I saw had 28-32 students in them which is a large group to manage. Students in this class were engaged, talking and moving around while learning.

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The final class of the day was a first grade class taught by Ana Carolina. This class was a little smaller with 21 students. These students were using a simple worksheet to demonstrate their understanding of English “My house” vocabulary words: bed, tub, cupboard, table, sofa and armchair. Carolina gave the class an opportunity to ask me questions. She scaffolded their learning by having them ask in Portuguese with her repeating it back to them in English. She then assisted them in presenting the questions to me. This was the very last 30 minutes of the day and they were quite an energetic group but so sweet. I told them that I had a grandson, Noah, who was their age so they then wanted to see his picture. It was wonderful to be able to make connections with this group.

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Through my conversations with the English teachers, I’m sure that this won’t be the last time that I have contact with this group of educators. They are in the beginning stages of becoming a more global educational environment and that is also the goal that I have for my Battle Creek students….to be more aware of the world outside of their home town. I’m very excited about possible future work that I will be able to do with this wonderful group of educators! Another amazing day!!!

At the end of the day, I was once again able to successfully use the Uber and arrive safely back at Marina’s apartment!

P.S. Special thanks for Paula and all of the teachers who graciously welcomed me into your school. It was a wonderful experience.

On Tuesday morning, I traveled with Julia to visit Instituto Ouro Verde where her two daughters are students. The school setting is unique as it is contained in a very large house in a gated community area. The house has been converted for the purpose of creating this school. This school was started under the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner and uses the Waldorf Pedagogy described below from the school’s webpage. (http://www.institutoouroverde.com.br/#estrutura )

“The Waldorf Pedagogy was created by Rudolf Steiner 95 years ago. Their curriculum is lively, dynamic and integrated, as well as their concern for the students’ global development, their individual differences and the emphasis on discovering their abilities and potential respecting each stage of the child’s development. It is referenced worldwide by Unesco as a model of pedagogy capable of responding to the educational challenges of our time.”

This is a private school where parents must pay tuition for their children to attend. Julie explained that she chose this educational setting for her two daughters because she felt that they would learn life skills along with their lessons which she deems as very important in our current culture. One room that Julia was very excited to share with me was the craft room where students learn to sew, knit and crochet as well as other arts. The work was beautiful!

I took my tour of the school as the school day was ending so there are not many students in the classes but I believe that my pictures give a good idea about the learning environment. They engage in many practical skills and have a garden that produces food which is served in their cafeteria. Classes take turns with the various “chores” that must be completed for the garden and grounds.

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Groups of students progress through their schooling with the same teacher as a guide. As they advance each year, they will study around a different theme. The name plates on each classroom door depict the theme that grade is learning about during that year.

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This school had many similar attributes as the Montessori school in Puerto Vallarta. It was evident that they highly value community and working together to create a better world for all.

On the following day, Wednesday, I had the opportunity to visit a city school located in a favela (neighborhood). This is a public school and I was told that they are one of the best in Belo Horizonte. There are about 400 students from ages 4-14. This is where students spend their first 9 years of school. The school is governed by city jurisdiction which switches to state governance when students enter high school.

My plan was to teach the Blue Sky Visioning Activity here. When arrangements were made for me to visit, it was our understanding that there would be no one who spoke English fluently so we prepared by having Marina translate some directions into Portuguese for the teacher to read. However, I had a nice surprise in the form of a teacher, Tina, who had been an American exchange student when she was in school so she helped me teach the lesson. Juliana, the classroom teacher, was phenomenal too. It’s pretty amazing how we learn to communicate even when our words don’t match.

As a reminder, the Blue Sky Envisioning activity asks students to draw a picture to create their own perfect learning environment. We prefaced this activity with asking students to tell us their favorite thing to do in school. I shouldn’t be surprised that these students have many of the same ideas about the make up of their perfect learning environment as did the students in Mexico and the U.S. They want food, activities, computers, rest and leisure time incorporated into their learning environment.

The group I worked with were 10-11 year olds and they immediately took me to my “happy place” by being excited that I was there! I lost count of the number of hugs I received from the students and was impressed with their effort to correctly pronounce my name (the soft “th” sound is difficult for non-English speakers) and repeat simple words/phrases.

When I was preparing for my trip, I gathered some simple gifts to give to students who I worked with. My neighbor, who is a hot air balloon pilot, gave me some cards with hot air balloon pictures of Sugar Bear and Pigasus. The Battle Creek Bombers provided some stickers for me to hand out and I had some pencils from Learning to Give. I was able to share these with the students today and they were thrilled!!! I was moved to tears (and big smiles) at the respect I received which was evidenced when they asked me to autograph their balloon cards (sorry Tyler!). I was humbled and very honored that they thought so highly of me and I realized that this is something that has begun to slip away in the culture of our American classrooms. Another big issue that I’m going to need to reflect on and work hard to figure out is how to build some of this enthusiasm and respect for adults back into my school environment.

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The school has clean grounds and provides lunch to all of the students each day. There is an outdoor recreation area, some playground equipment, a computer lab and cafeteria area.

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These two schools are vastly different however they are both doing an amazing job educating their students. An exciting note: I now have a connection at the city school to establish more pen pal relationships with my students at Springfield Middle School. The English speaker, Tina, who helped me there is going to assist me (by translating) in helping our students experience a world outside of where they live! I call that a WIN!!! My next two days will be filled with a couple more school visits…..stay tuned!

In order to get the most out of an experience, I’ve found that it’s very important to remain flexible and “go with the flow” of what’s happening around you. I learned this lesson very early in life while growing up living in a small town funeral home and having parents whose job it was to serve others in our community. If there were family plans and someone passed away, my dad had to be able to go where he was needed causing the rest of us to carry on without him. I know that some people who I’ve come across in my life haven’t understood my ability to be so flexible and have thought that I was just disregarding the importance of an activity. However, that’s not the case! I believe that when we are flexible and adjust to others’ needs, the experience becomes greater and more than we’d ever dreamed it might be.

This past week was a time when I put these skills to use. Marina wasn’t feeling well so we had to scale back some of our plans for the week. However, many valuable lessons were still learned and I was stretched in my adventure. For starters, I ventured out to the neighborhood grocery store to buy some food items for us to eat while Marina stated at home. Now, this is a big city and I’m basically a country kid but I felt ready and did it successfully. I was a bit nervous and anxious, especially when I took a wrong turn the first time. I went back to Marina’s apartment and started over, this time finding the store and making my purchases. I felt very accomplished to be able to do this especially since she wasn’t feeling well at home.

During the week, I’ve watched the square in front of the museum being transformed into a performance venue complete with stages, food booths and medical tents. Over two weekends, a regional festival will be held with live entertainment and food for sale from this area of Brazil.

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On Wednesday afternoon, Marina had a meeting at the local technical school. I decided to tag along and look around while she was in her meeting. My understanding is that this school offers programs similar to trade training. There are classes for design, computers, electrical and many more. It’s a beautiful campus with several buildings dedicated to each of the areas of training. During breaks between classes, students came and sat outside, having social time with each other. Teenagers are pretty much the same no matter where they are from. I heard loud voices (not surprised!), laughter, conversations and even saw a couple of students attempting a nap!

I’m reminded of the words of a speaker I heard during a professional development last summer when he asked us, “Is the student behaving like this to be intentionally bad or because they are 12(or whatever age you’d like to put in)?” Developmentally, I’ve seen students in many different settings act in a very similar manner. Despite our outward differences, we also possess many similarities to our peers around the world.

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I have observed several group tours during my time here at the museum. I followed along behind a young group of students on Thursday. I can’t say enough about the skill and knowledge of the guides employed here at the museum. On this day, I watched differentiation in progress. Thiago made learning about the history of the area fun for these young students by playing a matching game of items displayed and demonstrating how a water wheel works by using a mini version of one. Students were enthusiastic and cheered each other on when one of their peers made a match during the game. Thiago knew how long the students were capable of sitting and encouraged conversation throughout the presentation. One hour went by very quickly! Even though I don’t understand the language, I can still see student engagement and recognize excellent teaching methods when I encounter them!

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Finally, the week ended with family time. We stopped at a local bakery and picked up some fresh breads (I’ve really enjoyed this part of the trip!) and bakery items. We traveled to the home of Marina’s aunt and uncle who are also her godparents. Living with them are a son, his wife and twin grand daughters (aged 13). Everyone is so friendly and want to share the love of their culture and food with me. The girls were going to be attending a 15th birthday party for a friend so Marina helped them get ready for this event too. It was a lovely evening and again represented the importance of relationships and taking time to get acquainted!

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I’ve eaten a lot of wonderful food so will be doing a Brazilian food post soon. Stay tuned for the exciting event I have the opportunity to attend later this week….watching Brazil vs. Argentina in the Copa Americana! I’m so excited!!

The Centro region of Rio is the old part of the city. There’s a beautiful square in this section that is surround by old historic buildings. One of these is Biblioteca Nacional or the National Library. The whole library isn’t open to visitors but there was much to see including an exhibit about the beloved Brazilian children’s author Monteiro Lobato. Marina grew up with his books and lessons from them. I discovered that we are kindred spirits in that these books mean so much to her that she became emotional about having the chance to view this exhibit. Even though I couldn’t understand the language of the exhibit, I did understand the importance of this writer in children’s lives. Here is a little bit from an online biography:

“Most of his children books were set in the Sítio do Picapau Amarelo (“Yellow Woodpecker Farm” or “Yellow Woodpecker Ranch”), a small farm in the countryside, and featured the elderly ranch owner Dona Benta (“Mrs. Benta”), her two grandchildren – a girl, Lúcia (“Lucia”) who is always referred to only by her nickname, Narizinho(“Little Nose”, because she had a turned-up nose) and a boy, Pedrinho (“Little Pete”) — and a black servant and cook, Tia Nastácia (“Aunt Anastacia”). These real characters were complemented by entities created or animated by the children’s imagination: the irreverent rag doll Emília (“Emilia”) and the aristocratic and learnedpuppet made of corncob Visconde de Sabugosa (roughly “Viscount Corncob”), the cow Mocha, the donkey Conselheiro (“Counsellor”), the pig Rabicó (“Short-Tail”) and the rhinoceros Quindim (Quindim is a Brazilian dessert), Saci Pererê (a black, pipe-smoking, one-legged character of Brazilian folklore) and Cuca (an evil monster invoked by Brazilian mothers at night to convince their kids to go to bed). However the adventures mostly develop elsewhere: either in fantasy worlds invented by the children, or in stories told by Dona Benta in evening sessions. These three universes are deftly intertwined so that the stories or myths told by the grandmother naturally become the setting for make-believe play, punctuated by routine farm events.

Many of these books are educational, teaching things through the mouth of Mrs. Benta and by smart questions and remarks, by her small and attentive audience. They addressed subjects which children normally do not like at school, such as mathematics, grammar, national and world history, geography, astronomy, Greek mythology, and so on.” ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monteiro_Lobato )

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Up the street a short ways, we went to get some lunch at the famous Confeitaria Colombo. This confectionary was founded in 1894 by Portuguese immigrants. The enormous crystal mirrors were brought from Antwerp and the wooden furniture of the interior was carved by Antonio Borsoi. The lines were very long so we decided to buy our food to eat at the counter. It was beyond amazing!

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We then walked out to the marina near the Meseu do Amanha (Museum of Tomorrow). We weren’t able to go in but walked around the area and watched the sun begin to set.

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Marina then hurried us on our way….she didn’t want to reveal our next location in case we didn’t arrive before they closed. However, we did get there and walking in the door took my breath away….it was time for me to become emotional. We were entering Real Gabinete Portugues de Leitura….a very special place full of books, floor to ceiling. Words cannot do it justice and I don’t think they can explain the feeling of being in this place either.

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The final part of our visit were some activities that really caused me to stretch and grow. On Friday night, we went to a Samba party. Samba is a Brazilian music genre and dance style with its roots in Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. Samba is a symbol of Brazil and one of its most popular cultural expressions. In our case, the musicians sat around a table and the party went on around/behind them. People listened, danced and sang along to the music because everyone knows the words.

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The second place we visited was called a Budweiser basement party which was held in an old warehouse that’s been converted for parties. This event was organized to watch the Brazil vs. Peru soccer match with a DJ playing music afterward. I was definitely in the minority in age at this place. I laughingly told Marina that only the security guys were as old as me. I loved the kinship I saw here over cheering on the Brazilian team. It really didn’t matter your background, gender or anything because all had a common goal.

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After we left the soccer party, we stopped at a regional street party. A section of a neighborhood is blocked off. There is a band and food vendors selling their specialties. Many people were dressed in costumes authentic to the region that was being celebrated. Again, people were singing and dancing and eating!

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I think with so much separation in my home country, it’s done my heart good to see people from all walks of life getting along when it’s important to do that. I am fully aware that there is a lot of unrest here in Brazil too but my observation from this experience tells me that they’re able to put it aside and celebrate the important things when necessary. I observed this in Mexico too and it’s really had me thinking.

Finally, instead of taking the bus back home, we were offered a ride by one of Marina’s high school friends. Enjoy some of this mountain scenery! I challenge each of you to take a step out of your comfort zone sometime soon and discover something new the world has to offer! Tchau!

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This past weekend gave me a chance to learn more about the culture and history of Brazil. Thursday, June 19th is a national holiday (Corpus Cristi) in Brazil so with that day off and the weekend ahead, Marina planned a weekend trip for us to visit Rio de Janeiro (River of January). We boarded a bus at midnight and road(slept) overnight to journey to our destination. As the sun rose, we crested the last hill into the city. It was an amazing sight!

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Being a holiday, the beach was pretty full. There were families, groups of friends, couples and more enjoying a day of rest and relaxation. Vendors were everywhere selling their wares: cookies, drinks, grilled meat, swimsuits, scarves, jewelry and other items too. Children and adults played in the waves and there were many groups kicking around soccer balls. I took a walk down the beach to take in all of the sights. What a beautiful place it was to spend a day off!

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The sun sets between 5:00 and 5:30 (it’s winter!). Marina has some friends who live in Rio and they invited us over to eat and talk. They all are professionals and speak English so I didn’t feel left out. However, I think the moments when they were having lively conversations in their native language were most enlightening to me. I observed that these meals are not just one big spread of food laid out to eat in a short amount of time. The company of friends is to be enjoyed over a long period of time while various foods and drinks are provided. We started with cheeses, crackers, fruit and wine. After much conversation and laughter, more food items were added to the table. This is how family is built with friends and acquaintances. These relationships can be such an important part of our lives as it builds us a support system to forge through good times and difficult ones. I very much enjoyed my time at the table!

It rained overnight and was cloudy the next morning so we decided to walk and do tourist things. My fitbit recorded almost 18,000 steps for us on this day and it was fabulous! Here’s a little history to start:

“Portuguese rulers were the first ones to rule Rio as they landed on the soil of Guanabara Bay on the 1st January 1502. The bay forms the opening of a river, hence the name ‘Rio de Janeiro’ which means ‘River of January’. The French also wanted to make the best of the strategic position of Rio in the Brazilian region and tried to make a foothold in the city but were debarred from the city after two years of intense war. To protect from further invasions, the city was moved to a safer position on a hill, which was later named as Castle Hill.”

We began our walk along the beach where the neighborhood of Copacabana starts and then headed into Centro.

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This is getting long so I’m going to end here and continue with a part 2. Stay tuned!

On Tuesday, June 18th, I received my first (of probably many) tour of the museum. The museum is only open to school groups on Tuesdays. The artifacts are housed in a former train station that was converted to a museum around 15 years ago. There are actually two buildings, one on each side of the commuter train tracks, that house all of the exhibits. These buildings are connected by an underground tunnel.

In the morning, I followed along with a first grade group of students and their teachers. They had an introductory tour as I believe this was their first time visiting. Their guide, Flavia, made it fun and exciting! They hopped around to several different exhibits and she used short explanations. She was very interactive with the students and kept them highly engaged. At each exhibit there are extra cards provided explaining the information in English, French and Spanish. I was able to read the English card and have a better idea what she was saying to the students. Flavia is an excellent guide with much knowledge of not only her content, but also how to keep children interested in what she’s saying.

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In the afternoon, I tagged along with Thiogo and a 4th grade group (I think!). Their focus was different from that of the younger students. I noticed right away that they were all carrying notebooks to write things down. I later discovered that their tour was focusing more on the history of Brazil and the area.

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Thiogo also did a nice job keeping students engaged and asking questions. Even though I don’t know the language, I can understand some of the basics. Children all over have a very similar attention span. This was evident in the tour. They have a need to ask questions and have them answered as well as to explore without a guide.

One of the older boys in the afternoon tried to speak to me in Portuguese and quickly understood that I didn’t speak his language. From that point on, during the tour, he would look and wave at me, saying “Hi” and “Hello!” He was willing to try to interact with me even though our language was different. I’ve found that children have less fears of making language mistakes than do the adults so my best “conversations” have been with that group. They are also quick to forgive my language errors.

The museum is a wonderful resource of artifacts and history of the state and country of Brazil! I look forward to learning more as my time here continues. Tonight I’m leaving for another adventure and won’t have internet for a few days. I’ll make my next post after the weekend! The learning and blessings continue…..

I can only pray that when we have visitors in our work spaces, we are as welcoming as these teachers have been to me! I read an article recently that Mexico is one of the friendliest countries and they’ve certainly made me a believer.

I also had some special time with students my last day with them on Thursday. The middle school class surprised me with a “Taste of Puerto Vallarta” lunch where they each provided a dish. It was so good. The Littlest people made a very special gift for me which you can see below. I received many hugs and smiles to take with me as I journeyed forward.

Hasta lo proxima vez mis amigas!

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It turns out that I ended my trip right where I started….near the pier at the Malecon, watching the sunset. I’m still processing the past five weeks but I think that Dr. Seuss sums it up perfectly:

“How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?”

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And now I’ve arrived at another beautiful place to explore…..Belo Horizonte which means “beautiful horizon.” I look forward to all that I will see and learn here too.

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I was blessed, this week, to be invited to visit with the groups where this all begins…..Nursery and Kindergarten. I’ll tell you right now~~those teachers are heroes! They are amazing at what they do and show so much love for their students.

From the start, nursery students (aged 16 months to 3 years) are taught to complete simple tasks and learn a procedure for doing tasks. I have never seen such young people efficiently do “chores” and take responsibility for their room. By this time in the year, they have all learned what they should be doing and they do it!

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The other classroom that I visited was the Kindergarten (ages 4-6). This was a busy but very organized space. Again, students continue what they’ve learned in the nursery and complete a learning routine. When they arrive each morning, the teachers sit at the door and give a hug and personal greeting. One parent per day provides lunch for the whole class. As students come in, they go pick up a learning tray and complete the activity on the tray. When they are finished with this, they get another. While students are working on these activities, the two teachers are meeting individually with other students (assessing learning). Students were on task and engaged in their learning!

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At lunch time, each student picks up the supplies that are needed to set their place to eat: place mat, bowl/plate, silverware and a cup. They are called up one at a time to be given their food. Students are asked to “try” at least a bite of everything that is provided. However, on this day, I did see some students choose just to have tortillas with cheese and not eat the vegetable dish that was brought in. When students are finished eating, they take their dirty dishes to a central area where other students, who are assigned to that job, wash and dry the dishes. Another student washes all of the place mats each day and hangs them up to dry.

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These teachers of the “Little People” are doing a great job at setting a foundation for future success. It’s made me really think about how much very young students are capable of doing by themselves. Upon reflection, this is another area that I need to think about more and figure out how my students can become more independent and responsible for their surroundings. I was very honored to spend time with these amazing teachers and receive hugs and “Hola, Kat(h)y” from their students.

It may look like I’ve been having a lot of fun (I have!) and playing around during my journey however, there is a serious component to my travels. Today, I was able to complete one of those more serious requirements and…. WOW!

In my application to be chosen as a DeMaso Fellowship recipient, I shared some lessons that I planned to teach students where I was visiting. One of those lessons is called the “Blue Sky Envisioning Activity.” I use this lesson at the beginning of each school year to get to know my students better and to learn what they’re passionate about.

Since I already have my data, I wanted to complete this lesson with the students in Puerto Vallarta and Brazil. I was able to work with the 8th grade class last Wednesday and finished with the 7th grade group today.

In order for you to understand this better, I need to share some demographics about all of the students. There are students from single parent homes and those who live with both parents; students being raised by someone other than their parent; students who are from poverty, middle class and wealth; students who are emotionally/physically neglected; and students with learning disabilities. It doesn’t matter where they live….they have more similarities than differences.

Those similarities were evident during this lesson. I started the lesson by reading a book called “Through the Cracks” by Carolyn Sollman, Barbara Emmons and Judith Paolini. Here’s the description from Amazon:

“Through the Cracks addresses one of the most important issues of our time: how youngsters become frustrated and disengaged in school systems that cannot always meet their emotional, mental, and intellectual needs. Presented as a children’s story, with powerful images that literally show the students “shrinking away” from the classroom, this allegory pleads with us to ensure the future of society by keeping kids creatively engaged. A young girl named Stella narrates, and she explains why she has lost pleasure in classwork. The problem: uninspired lessons leave them bored, with wandering minds that hinder learning. Fortunately, there are solutions here: bright and appealing classrooms where kids discuss their work and ideas, where special guests come to share their knowledge, where appealing art and research projects stimulate youthful imaginations, and where nature studies are actually done outdoors. “

We look at a picture of a rundown neighborhood at the beginning of the book and name issues that we see that negatively impact it. Then I read the book, asking questions along the way to make sure that students are understanding the message of the story.

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Near the end of the book, after students have discovered how to be “thinking, not shrinking,” there’s another picture of the neighborhood from the beginning of the book. However, this time there’s a big difference….the buildings have been fixed, the school yard is inviting to children, the blighted houses have been repaired and more. At this point, I ask students to think about how they could make their school classroom community “a perfect place to learn!” I hand out a sheet of blue paper to represent always blue, always sunny skies. Students then draw pictures of what they personally think needs to be present in the perfect place for them to learn.

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When students have finished their drawings, we discuss their needs for a better learning community. This is where my “WOW!” comes in and I’m not sure that I can fully explain it but I’ll try.

Out of this activity I was reminded that ALL students at this age have the need for some type of choice in their education. The drawings from my Springfield students had things such as music, comfortable seating, computers, entertainment systems, snacks, art stations, recess and a place to rest on their pictures. The students here had some similarities such as comfortable seating, computers, art and snacks. However, they already have recess so didn’t need to include that in their pictures.

The discussion that followed opened my eyes to the fact that middle school students are the same at their core. They crave relationships with adults and peers and want to be able to have meaningful conversations to plan their work. This past school year, I held “circles” every Monday to check in with my students but that is not enough! I can see now that it’s important to have more frequent check-ins so will be structuring some things very differently next year.

The 2nd big “Aha!” was a reminder that students in this age group still need guidance from the adults in their lives even while it seems they are pushing us away! As an educator, it is my job to build a relationship of trust and learn about the heart and passion of my students. If I do that, we will all be much happier. When we’re all happier, we pull together rather than tear apart. This is why Service Learning is at the core of my teaching pedagogy. This lesson always reminds me that developing my students’ passions through service to our community at school, at home, in our city, state and world is always a WIN-WIN for everyone.

I’m happy to report that the future of our world is really in good hands as long as we continue to nurture, encourage and recognize the talent of our youth!

(Please ask questions if you’d like to know more.)