Valentines Day ~ How to Save a Life ~ Be a Teacher

Valentine's Day 

Love Day

Dedicated to my fellow teachers

Who love their students every day

We are it

We have dedicated our lives to it

We are everything with it

Nothing without it

Because we have become it

Completely vulnerable to it

Love

Is so incredibly wonderful

And the longer we stay in our profession

The more we dive completely into it

~ Adam Stuart

Valentine's Day 2016

*Inspired after receiving an email recently from a parent of a former student (It is not the student pictured below. This was Joadeliz's gift to me this year that she spent her own money on; money she has very little of. It was truly a gift from her heart).

"Dear Mr. Stuart,

________ has mentioned you several times in the past few months. I as her mom am reaching out to you in hopes that you can send her your famous words of encouragement. 

She has been diagnosed with the early onset of ______ 

She has several doctors appointments in the upcoming weeks. She feels down about school, (___A's, ___B's), she needs an uplifting message and trust me I know you're the one that can deliver it and she would openly  receive it.

Once again,  I deeply appreciate it, if you can do that with your busy schedule."

I am a very unassuming person, which means I don't have an ego thinking I'm great, or worried about others seeing me as great or being better than anybody. I simply see the best in others and in the world and often have no idea of any impact I'm having on others. 

Just like any teacher, I do what I do because I am what I am and because it feels real and it feels true.

While moving recently I found a cross a student gave me ten years ago who contacts me now when she feels like cutting herself.

I have worn that cross around my neck every day since finding it.

I also found a letter from another student who told me he had gone through a period of wanting to kill himself, but each time he tried he heard my voice telling him and his classmates to Dream Big, Do Big, and never give up until they Became Big, and if any of them ever did give up they could always come back to me for hope and passion and the strength to fight again because the world needed them and the gifts only they could develop and give to the world.

He is now an incredible poet.

  

More and more of us are feeling so stressed out by stressed out administrators stressed out by their bosses over-stressing their jobs are at stake by the new protocol that we all forget why we do what we do and don't want to do it anymore.

And more and more of use are dropping out of teaching forever, wondering where we went wrong in our lives.

I came within one day from quitting teaching this year. I was still broken-hearted from a relationship that had ended months earlier, having lost my best friend and wondering where everything had gone wrong.

And now I was teaching at a new school with even tougher requirements because it was a failing school. I didn't feel strong. I didn't feel confident. And I felt so stressed out in meetings that all I heard in my head was, "You can't do this anymore." 

And I wondered what a grown man was doing teaching a bunch of kids who didn't do their homework, didn't behave, didn't care. 

I felt like a loser wondering again where I had gone wrong.

Then I reached down, deep down, into the only thing I had. The only thing I was and the only thing I was ever good at. Love. 

And I didn't quit.

I showed up one day at a time and gave all of me for just one more day at a time.  I decided to live again and love again every day I could get myself out of bed again.

I say we don't drop out. Things are tough in teaching. They are overwhelming. They are hard. 

Love is tougher. Love overcomes. Love breaks down all obstacles.

"It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (Corinthians)

And the love we have for our students has an effect we often have no idea just how big it is on them, how long it stays with them, and how long it keeps them alive because it has become a part of them.  

Valentine's Day is our day.

It is our day every day.

Happy Valentine's Day teachers!

I love you for what you do.

Potable Drinking Water

This is a problem we need people to solve.


Will you have developed the critical thinking skills to help solve this very critical problem by the time you're out of school?

Humans need clean water to live, yet millions of people in developing countries die every year from diseases associated with unsanitary water. One in five people lacks access to this basic resource, and experts fear that by 2025, a full third of the world’s population will be struggling to find potable water. Widespread pollution has contaminated many safe water sources, transforming them into festering pools of disease, yet water usage has continued to increase to record levels. Experts say that sanitation, purification, and water management initiatives are critical factors in the fight to bring clean water to the world’s poorest regions.


The world needs you.








SOURCE: AFP

Tell Me

Now that class is over
And it's time for you to go

Tell me what you learned today
And tell me how you've grown

Tell me that I did my job
And gave you wings for flight

Tell me that you'll fly so high
In your dreams tonight

- Adam Stuart
(just another peaceful warrior with just another young dreamer - Amanda)

The Struggle and The Slam

Today the desks were removed and the classroom became a giant circle. We reviewed a reading assignment and discussed the thinking behind our answers. The level of thinking these 10 and 11 year-olds are capable of is remarkable.

Bridget even turned the entire dialogue and debate into a play-by-play basketball game. I had mentioned that as impressive as an athlete slam dunking the ball is, a person using their brain at the highest levels is even more impressive.

As an example, Dunk-a-Rena Serena clears up an argument using evaluation, the very highest form of Bloom's Taxonomy of thinking.

Bridget's creativity and well-developed brain power allowed her to understand what was going on so well that she analyzed what was going on (by breaking it down into its parts) and synthesized it (put the parts back together applying it to an entirely new situation).


Today's lesson was termed "The Struggle and the Slam". In order to be able to do the slamming, a student must be able to do the struggling. The struggle with a problem and thinking it through is what develops the thinking muscles of the brain.

A ball was passed across the circle when someone had something to say. Needless to say, EVERYBODY had to get the ball. In this "mental gym" everybody works out. The harder the workout the greater the growth.

Thanks to Skyler and Serena who took pictures while still being heavily involved in the debate. It wasn't possible to match every picture to the action but I did my best.

The game begins. Dallas starts with the ball, as Belle distracts him. Dallas shoots.............and Scores! Coach Stuart yells out for someone to explain why Dallas' shot went in.

Serena uses her super strategy so that she could make a score. She did not want Mr.Stuart eating his food before lunchtime.

Serena and Amanda are 1 on 1. They steal the ball various times, until Jessica cuts in.

Amanda loses it, and she and Jessica chase Serena to the hoop. Serena passes it to Summer, who prepares to shoot.

They dribble..... and Mr. Stuart calls a time out, asking the team to explain the play-making going on.

Now Nick makes a basket, with a very good point.
Jessica just slam dunked, after missing a couple shots! HOORAY!
Amanda and Nick and Jessica are playing 3 on 3! Now, another time out takes place. A penalty for those off their bench.

Dallas did not know why he missed the big shot.

Mahrukh steals the ball, and runs for the basket, but Skyler stops her on the way there.

Amanda almost makes it, but Jessica saves the ball and it's hers!

Jessica shoots with all her might, but it hits the board and falls back.
Serena the slam dunker catches it and speeds to the other hoop. She passes it to her teammate, Malcolm. Times Up!

Time for the next round. Mr.Stuart has a pep talk with his team. Everyone feels better, and gets ready to get back in the game.

Malcolm has the ball. Can he make this shot, and can Ryan show up for practice in time?
Skyler quickly takes the ball and makes a shot. He got his team a point.

Sandeep got passed the ball. He makes a really good shot, and his team gets 2 points!

Mark starts with the ball. Then, he drops it and Summer gets it. She makes a shot! Almost a slam dunk!

Mr. Stuart calls a time out. There are 2:00 left in the game until the next round. He tells his team that some of them are starting to struggle, which is a good thing because it means they're making their brain power grow.

Dallas and Jessica keep convincing him that they'd like to get back to the game. The game begins, and Zack passes the ball to Nick, who makes a shot.

Briana catches the ball and prepares to make another shot. She shoots, and Mr.Stuart calls an immediate time out.

Another penalty for Dallas, who shouted out a bad play during the game.

Haseeb tells the team a very good plan for the last ten seconds of the game.

Then, when it begins, Summer slam dunks! Time for the next round.

Mr.Stuart fills them with words of wisdom before they continue. Skyler also shares some very good words with his friends. He calls one of the final time outs, just as Hasseb takes the ball.

Belle quickly comes up with a useful plan. Skyler agrees and adds to it.

Briana now has the ball. She dodges everybody in her way. She passes it to Hasseb, who passes it to Ryan, who scores!

Everyone high fives, and heads to lunch. Lunch Break!!!!