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...

My New Favorite Movie...FROZEN!

I made a DECISION!  I will let my gray hair come on out!  I will "Let it GO!"  I have been struggling with this for some time.  I have ALWAYS been of the thought that my hair should be dark and my nails polished.  But there comes a time, or has for me, when you just say, "I'm not sure that matters to me anymore."  You might think that sounds fatalistic, but to me it sounds like FREEDOM.  Not that I have ever been bound by convention, but I just didn't want to be known in my classroom as Old Lady Evans.  Guess what?  You can't stop that...neither can you hold back your powers for very long.  After watching the movie with some of my grandchildren, I made the decision to go white, just like one of the main characters I have been "graying" since my youth.  I just didn't realize how beautiful the nature of it all really is, until the movie.  It was invigorating.  I walked out of there singing, "Let it Go!"  One of my 8th grade students noticed.  Her reaction, "Mrs. Evans NO!"  When asked what part of the math problem she didn't understand, she let me know I had gray hair on my head.  I told her I was aware of that.  She said, "You can't go gray.  You would have to change your hairstyle and I love how you let it stick out everywhere!"  Why would I have to change my hairstyle?  "Because you would look like Einstein!"  I let her know that he was my mother's uncles' cousin twice removed by marriage on my daddy's side.  She is still confused.  One of my granddaughter's reaction was quite different.  She, 4 years old, noticed the gray coming in.  "What is that?"  I told her, "I'm FROZEN!"  She gave me the Debbie Evans' enthusiastic look!  "Oh my, are you getting your powers?"  My response, "Why YES I AM!"  The journey may be taking a bend in the road, but it is empowering!  Let us sing....LET IT GO!