OK. For the grammarians, I know that it is improper to finish a sentence with a preposition. This should be entitled “For What Are You Thankful?” I’m not always that proper.
I do, however, get very annoyed when I overhear someone say over the phone “Where are you at?” That is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. But I digress.
It is Thanksgiving, a uniquely American holiday and tradition. Though strongly rooted in Christian values and supported by images of gentle pious pilgrims breaking bread with Native Americans, the idea of thankfulness and gratefulness seems to be a universal value across all cultures and religions and perhaps even across the animal kingdom.
In Spanish it’s gracias. In Mandarin it’s xie xie. The Hawaiians say Mahalo. My chocolate lab, Ruby, can’t talk but says thank you with a full body tail wag whenever I bring her food or offer to throw the tennis ball for her.
Kids. We have to teach them the importance of saying thank you. Most get it from good guidance at home. Some seem to forget their manners at times, but I’m afraid we adults do send them mixed messages. The thank you is supposed to be attached to appreciation. If you don’t genuinely feel appreciation, the thank you doesn’t naturally pop in your head. Often we expect them to say thank you when someone has done something for them, but they weren’t really asking for it.
Say thank you to the dentist for stretching your mouth like a wide mouth frog? I don’t think so. Say thank you to the gym teacher for only making you do 20 push ups? Probably not. Say thank you to the barber for making you look just like your father and getting hair down your shirt? Thanks for nothing.
Still, I find as I visit our schools that children are more apt than not to say thank you at appropriate times, when they know they have been indeed given a gift. A compliment, a few extra minutes on the play ground, a snack, an opportunity to feel special and important – all will bring a quick thank you from even the rudest of kids.
Recently, I asked one of our new principals if he found our students to be different in any way from the students where he last worked. He answered, “Absolutely. The students here are polite. They look you in the eye and say good morning. They hold the door for you. They appear to be comfortable chatting with adults.”
I have much to be thankful for. I have a loving wife and healthy kids. I have a job I love in a community with a great quality of life. But it is hard to beat the grateful feeling of knowing that our kids are turning out OK; that they can treat each other with respect and compassion; that they can carry on a coherent conversation with an adult; that they know and value the idea of community service. And they know how to say “Thank You.”
Friday, November 20, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Flooded Again
The folks at Bowers Beach had to deal with flooding again. Perhaps that is a price you pay when living in paradise. Reports are that everyone is OK, though I’m sure there was plenty of damage and muck to clean up.
I’ve written about this before, so if you’ve already heard this story, I apologize. But, when it rains and brings flooding in November, I am taken back to the image of a school almost washed away in the mountains of West Virginia in 1985. At that time I worked in the Central Office, but just a few years before I had been principal at Marlinton Elementary. The main building was in the flood plain. We knew that and tolerated the occasional heavy rain that pooled in the road and leaked muddy water under the door sills.
In 1978 we built a new elementary school on 3 feet of fill to get it well above the 100 year flood line. What we didn’t know was that in a few years, we would find out what a 500 year flood would be like. That means the kind of high water that may come around once every 500 years.
After moving school buses and district vehicles to higher ground, we all went to bed that night, knowing there was more water in the streets than ever and fearing for the safety of those we knew lived in its direct path. When your whole town is built in the flood plain of a significant river that is fed by high wall mountain streams, flood water can come in like a tidal wave.
I was up at daylight and glad to see the high water mark in my neighborhood stopped at the corner, 3 doors down. I was the first on the scene at school. Wearing my fishing waders I didn’t have to wait for the water to totally subside. I found that the water had reached around 8 feet in the old main building and 5 feet in the new school.
It is amazing how the water, with no doors or windows open, managed to reach the same level inside the buildings as outside. Equally amazing was the amount of mud that came with it. When the flood subsided, each classroom looked like the bottom of a peanut butter milk shake. Furniture was churned and scattered with books and other materials and all was covered in 3 - 6 inches of stinky brown muck.
Across the street sat the modest home of my friend Arch, a retired high school teacher and football coach and his wife Trudy, a kindergarten aide. Siding was missing from the house and the back deck was gone. The water line was two feet above the top of the front door. I knocked, assuming that they had left for high ground the night before and was surprised to have them both come to the door. We hooted and hollered and hugged just to see that they were OK.
They told me that as the water entered their house quickly. There was no time to wade out, so they got a step ladder and moved through the small square hatch that gave access to their tiny attic. You couldn’t help but laugh when Arch described how hunger took over good sense in the middle of the night, causing him to strip naked and swim in the icy pool that was their kitchen in order to recover a pot roast that Trudy had protected by stowing it on top of the fridge.
Thank God there were no lives lost in Marlinton that time. We learned through that flood that it’s just stuff. Stuff can be hosed off with a fire hose and re-used or thrown away and replaced. We were cleaned up and back in school in a week. We learned that people will show up from hundreds of miles away to help. We learned to appreciate that a community and its spirit could never be dampened by a little rain.
I’ve written about this before, so if you’ve already heard this story, I apologize. But, when it rains and brings flooding in November, I am taken back to the image of a school almost washed away in the mountains of West Virginia in 1985. At that time I worked in the Central Office, but just a few years before I had been principal at Marlinton Elementary. The main building was in the flood plain. We knew that and tolerated the occasional heavy rain that pooled in the road and leaked muddy water under the door sills.
In 1978 we built a new elementary school on 3 feet of fill to get it well above the 100 year flood line. What we didn’t know was that in a few years, we would find out what a 500 year flood would be like. That means the kind of high water that may come around once every 500 years.
After moving school buses and district vehicles to higher ground, we all went to bed that night, knowing there was more water in the streets than ever and fearing for the safety of those we knew lived in its direct path. When your whole town is built in the flood plain of a significant river that is fed by high wall mountain streams, flood water can come in like a tidal wave.
I was up at daylight and glad to see the high water mark in my neighborhood stopped at the corner, 3 doors down. I was the first on the scene at school. Wearing my fishing waders I didn’t have to wait for the water to totally subside. I found that the water had reached around 8 feet in the old main building and 5 feet in the new school.
It is amazing how the water, with no doors or windows open, managed to reach the same level inside the buildings as outside. Equally amazing was the amount of mud that came with it. When the flood subsided, each classroom looked like the bottom of a peanut butter milk shake. Furniture was churned and scattered with books and other materials and all was covered in 3 - 6 inches of stinky brown muck.
Across the street sat the modest home of my friend Arch, a retired high school teacher and football coach and his wife Trudy, a kindergarten aide. Siding was missing from the house and the back deck was gone. The water line was two feet above the top of the front door. I knocked, assuming that they had left for high ground the night before and was surprised to have them both come to the door. We hooted and hollered and hugged just to see that they were OK.
They told me that as the water entered their house quickly. There was no time to wade out, so they got a step ladder and moved through the small square hatch that gave access to their tiny attic. You couldn’t help but laugh when Arch described how hunger took over good sense in the middle of the night, causing him to strip naked and swim in the icy pool that was their kitchen in order to recover a pot roast that Trudy had protected by stowing it on top of the fridge.
Thank God there were no lives lost in Marlinton that time. We learned through that flood that it’s just stuff. Stuff can be hosed off with a fire hose and re-used or thrown away and replaced. We were cleaned up and back in school in a week. We learned that people will show up from hundreds of miles away to help. We learned to appreciate that a community and its spirit could never be dampened by a little rain.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Teacher of the Year
It is a simple word – teacher. Young children learn it early. If not by entering pre-school they learn the word from an older sibling who loves to play school.
The world has been shaped by so many teachers. Jesus is often called teacher in the scriptures. Many other spiritual leaders of the world’s religions have been called teacher as well. Most made their impact upon their followers by being a great teacher.
World famous teachers have shaped our understanding of science and math, our world the universe and our role in it. Einstein, Aristotle, Confucius, Sir Isaac Newton.
Outside of the immediate family, nobody has more influence over the development of a child than teacher. How many parents, in fact, tire of their little ones who might too frequently begin a sentence with “Teacher says….”.
To be a teacher is to follow a calling. Not everyone is cut out for it. In fact, just recently I was talking to a past Lake Forest graduate, who while substitute teaching, told me he intended to go back to college and get that teaching degree. But after 3 months substitute teaching in one room and all the responsibility that goes with it, he changed his mind and pursued another career.
It is not an easy job. ABC and 123 is not so complicated on the surface, but soon the words and numbers are arranged in all sorts of complicated groups and patterns with other special symbols and add to that the influence of 20 or more students at a time and their present state of mind - nutrition and hygiene and hormones and ADHD and learning disabilities and a lady bug just landed on my desk.
Teachers are not all interchangeable. She who loves 5 year olds may loathe and fear 15 year olds. He who loves history may stumble through biology. It takes a specialized understanding of the subject and an appreciation for the age group. It also takes a willingness to think like a teacher 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
This year’s Lake Forest Teacher of the Year is Karen Williams. She was recently honored at a banquet at Dover Downs along with other district teachers of the year from all over Delaware. She was not selected to be State Teacher of the Year, but she would’ve made a good one. A social studies teacher at Lake Forest High, Mrs. Williams’ strong suit is community service and student activities. For years she has sponsored student government and developed the leadership skills of our students, preparing them to take care of our government and our businesses in our old age.
Blood drive – Lake Forest collects the most blood. Pass the hat among students and Mrs. Williams’ kids have raised thousands and thousands of dollars for local charities. Homecoming – that’s her baby. You will find her in the background of so many of our more well known community events. Her dedication to the school and community are noteworthy and our children are lucky to have her.
Mrs. Williams represents all of our finest teachers. Until next October, her picture with some of her students posed at the Food Bank will grace the billboard on Rt. 13 North just before Paradise Alley. We’re proud of her and the way she represents the district. We’re glad she’s a Spartan
The world has been shaped by so many teachers. Jesus is often called teacher in the scriptures. Many other spiritual leaders of the world’s religions have been called teacher as well. Most made their impact upon their followers by being a great teacher.
World famous teachers have shaped our understanding of science and math, our world the universe and our role in it. Einstein, Aristotle, Confucius, Sir Isaac Newton.
Outside of the immediate family, nobody has more influence over the development of a child than teacher. How many parents, in fact, tire of their little ones who might too frequently begin a sentence with “Teacher says….”.
To be a teacher is to follow a calling. Not everyone is cut out for it. In fact, just recently I was talking to a past Lake Forest graduate, who while substitute teaching, told me he intended to go back to college and get that teaching degree. But after 3 months substitute teaching in one room and all the responsibility that goes with it, he changed his mind and pursued another career.
It is not an easy job. ABC and 123 is not so complicated on the surface, but soon the words and numbers are arranged in all sorts of complicated groups and patterns with other special symbols and add to that the influence of 20 or more students at a time and their present state of mind - nutrition and hygiene and hormones and ADHD and learning disabilities and a lady bug just landed on my desk.
Teachers are not all interchangeable. She who loves 5 year olds may loathe and fear 15 year olds. He who loves history may stumble through biology. It takes a specialized understanding of the subject and an appreciation for the age group. It also takes a willingness to think like a teacher 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
This year’s Lake Forest Teacher of the Year is Karen Williams. She was recently honored at a banquet at Dover Downs along with other district teachers of the year from all over Delaware. She was not selected to be State Teacher of the Year, but she would’ve made a good one. A social studies teacher at Lake Forest High, Mrs. Williams’ strong suit is community service and student activities. For years she has sponsored student government and developed the leadership skills of our students, preparing them to take care of our government and our businesses in our old age.
Blood drive – Lake Forest collects the most blood. Pass the hat among students and Mrs. Williams’ kids have raised thousands and thousands of dollars for local charities. Homecoming – that’s her baby. You will find her in the background of so many of our more well known community events. Her dedication to the school and community are noteworthy and our children are lucky to have her.
Mrs. Williams represents all of our finest teachers. Until next October, her picture with some of her students posed at the Food Bank will grace the billboard on Rt. 13 North just before Paradise Alley. We’re proud of her and the way she represents the district. We’re glad she’s a Spartan
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