Teacher, What Do You See?

We are going through so many changes in education.  Not just on a national, state or local level but also on the SCHOOL level.  Teachers leaving, changing schools, changing subjects, changing levels...Supervisors, Directors, Principals calling on teachers to do more with less and on and on it goes.  But with all of this one thing remains CONSTANT!  True Teachers love learning and there will always be Students to teach.  With this in mind, I have challenged myself this year to take into consideration the unseen future of my students in a more unique way.  I have prayed, "Lord, open my eyes so that I might see what you see."  I have a framed quotation from a song on my desk, "When others see a Shepherd Boy, GOD may see a King!"  Oh that I might see the hidden potential in every one of my students.  Oh that I might lift them to heights they only have dreamed of...Oh that I might see a King!

At the beginning of each new school year, I remember Mama.  ALWAYS!  She was and is remarkable.     
My mama sewed for all of us, six, children.  She made everything we ever wore and she is a very talented seamstress.  When us older three girls were in elementary grades, we had a new dress for every day for at least the first three weeks of school.  When my little brother joined us older three, he had a shirt made out of the same material as our dresses if it wasn't too "girly".  Mama took pride in her "brood" and she made sure we looked good.  One of our school bus drivers complemented her by saying, "Watching your children get on the bus is like watching a fashion show every morning."  Mama loved that and rightfully so, she worked hard for us.  (Mama if I haven't said so a million times already, "Thanks.")  Anyway, none of our dresses were "Plain Jane."  They had the ruffles and the big bows, the collars and the buttons, the puffed sleeves and the frilly aprons.  The big bows in the back of my dresses were my favorite.  I've always had a body with a built in bustle, if you know what I mean, a bow on my rear set the whole outfit off!   That big bow came in real handy one day for my third grade teacher, Mrs. "Edgear". 
    I had a REAL hard time staying in one place, still do, can't sit still for long.  And one of my favorite things to do was and is to dance around a classroom and maybe help someone along the way.  Mrs. Edgear had enjoyed all of the frivolity from me she could on this particular day.  She told me, "If you don't get in your chair and stay there, I'm going to use your big beautiful bow to tie you to your chair."  I guess I didn't think she would, you know it, I got up and sashayed around the room, I'm sure to help some unfortunate speller or something.  Here she came, and you got it again, she tied me to my chair with my bow.  And there I stayed for the rest of the day.  Today that would probably mean a lawsuit...then it meant when I got home a scolding and probably a whipping.  Which, by the way, explains my bustle today...permanent swelling...Either way I learned to stay in my seat and ENJOY THE RIDE...