Youth is not Wasted On the Young...

Recently, a young lady asked me if I was jealous of her because she was half my age.  It took all patience and God-Loving Control not to slap her.

 Instead, I bit my tongue for five seconds and said,  "No, I'm in the best part of my life"


 I know my husband loves me.
  I have two lovely daughters.
 Never again will I have to worry about morning sickness, first job interviews, or what I want to be when I grow up. 
I have my dream job, dream man, and dream home.
 I've lived through my mother's cancer, my sister's cancer, and my daughter's broken neck.
And I never want to live through that again...
I have the confidence of a forty-year-old woman,
and I'm not foolish enough to think I know it all.
I have read enough teen journal entries in my life to know
that I don't want to go back there.
And I'm honored to know that I can be a comfort to these students.

"Am I jealous that I'm old enough to be your mother?  No.  I'm a forty-year old woman.  I'm proud."

Boarding Schools - Not as fun as you'd think

What finally hooked the kids on this book, Ojibwe in Minnesota, was the boarding schools.

They were mortified.  They quoted Anton Treuer's writing in outrage -

 - Mrs. Aakhus,' Kill the Indian in him and save the man'. They said that

"I know"

-  They didn't even know their parents when they came home.

I know.

- They wouldn't even send them home if they had died.

I know.

- They didn't even know the same language as their parents.

I know.

- They didn't have a role model, Mrs. Aakhus, they didn't have their parents.

I know.

My students' compassion is awakening. Maybe they will learn with more compassion and see the young boy (from my previous post) patting the book in the far off corner, too.

On Powwows and Birch Bark Canoes

For the past two weeks, we've read 40 pages of Ojibwe in Minnesota.

It's been slow rowing....

This book has a lot of dense information.  Most of the kids were having a hard time getting into powwows and birch canoes.They were struggling with the fact that they were gong to have to re-read the information and build new knowledge.

I heard complaining from some of the most dedicated students.

But what keeps me going...

is that one kid who hides his book on the top of my book shelf.  He takes it down at the beginning of the class and pats it and looks at the pictures over and over.  He is coming home.  We are learning about his history.  He doesn't add to the conversation much, but he sits and smiles quietly and discreetly.  

Hooray!

We just finished reading The Giver in 8th grade. 

And Hooray!

Of course - not everyone cheered and the best parts - but those kids,  you know the ones...

The ones who yell out "I hate reading."

Those were who cheered at the best part ever in the book -

and even read ahead -

They even knew not to give the best part away - and definitely not the ending -  They did not give away the ending.

Now - I hope the next things we read hooks them just as much!

On helping ...

Tina decided we were going to be in the Uff Da Mud Run in Grand Forks, ND.  I'm not quite sure how she talked me into it - but she did.

I'm not sure I knew what I was in for until I paid the registration fee and starting reading about the different obstacles. I was scared to death.

Caron, Tina, and I trained.  We ran. And then, we ran some more.  We army crawled.  We swam.

Eventually...   they put the course map out.


View UFF DA mud run (public) in a larger map


In the back of my mind, I figured I would do some of the obstacles and support Tina and Caron as they managed the course.




 Every Thursday, we met at the park and ran the hills of Red Lake Falls.  I always knew they were faster than I was, but I plugged away.  I did what I could.

Friday night, Caron and Tina picked me up.  We registered for the race and went for supper.  We scanned the course took a big gulp went home and tried to sleep.

Jason brought  me and the girls to the starting line the next morning.  Natalie and I stood at the riverbank looking at the final swim when she turned to me and said "Mom, it's just sad."

"What?"

"I wonder how many people will drown today."

 IF that didn't comfort my anxiety for the day, I'm not sure what would.

Tina, Caron, and I started at the finish line pumped and ready to go!

We started over the first few obstacles of muddy rocks, hay bales, and increasing wall heights, and looked at each other and knew we were going to try them all.

I wasn't the fastest runner, but I had heart and determination, and I did things that day that I never thought I'd do.

What sticks in my mind the most is when I stood in line to climb a cliff and thinking that there was no way I'd do that.  In the back of my mind, I wondered how I was going to get out of it.  I watched Tina go, and then, Caron.  I decided that if they could do it, I could do it too.  I grabbed the rope and wrapped the rope around my wrist.  I climbed up  about 4/5 of the way and looked down.  I did not want to fall. I was so tired.  I looked up - it seemed so far.  I looked down.  I didn't want to go down either.  And, at the top my friends yelled "You can do it. You can do it."  And I went a bit further.. and then, arms hugged on to me, and they lifted me up the rest of the way.  I did it. 

In every day's struggles, I think of  reaching the top with someone's help.  I think of helping kids get to the top.  I'm more determined. 

Rockstars

I'm in awe.  We did it.  We swam. We crawled.  We jumped. We balanced.  We climbed. We laughed.  I'm in awe at what my friends helped me do.


There were a few times that I wondered if I would quit, but they pushed me through to the end.  After this, I think I can do anything. 

Uff Da - Mud Run?

Tina talked me and our friend Caron to do a Mud Run next month.

We've been running.  We've been walking.  We've been cutting wood.



We've been hanging from monkey bars wondering if... perhaps we could swing from one bar to the next.  So far, for me, the answer has been no.

I'm not sure why I agreed to do this.  Maybe it's because I'm going through a mid-life crisis?  I'll be forty in 10 months you see.

But yes.  I decided to do something that scares me.


View UFF DA mud run (public) in a larger map


Maybe I realized life is to short to sit on a couch?  Maybe life is too short to be scared? Maybe I need an adventure.  It looks like I got an adventure.

Hiroshima

This spring, I requisitioned 30 copies of Hiroshima by John Hersey. Personally, I had never heard of the book until five years ago when I assigned a journal asking students what book they would recommend for me to read.  At the end of class, one of my students went to my book shelf and came back with the classroom copy.

Japan has always pulled at my heartstrings.  There were a few exchange students from Japan in my high school, and I was always drawn to be their friend.  I even took a year of Japanese in high school.

 I read the book within a few weeks of the recommendation.

I decided we would read Hiroshima this Spring. As I researched the book, I learned the the book was originally published within The New Yorker published a year after the bombing of Hiroshima.  What fascinates me is the cover.

Never would a reader suspect what the story enfolded within the magazine. The irony of the cover floors me.  I wonder if I could make this bigger and make it a book cover to give students the effect that readers had had 67 years ago.  They would get the book thinking it was entitled The New Yorker with a picture of Americans in Central Park having the time of their lives, but when they read, they would realize what the Japanese were encountering at the same time.

We'll see what happens here - I'd like to have students look at many opinions and try to grasp an opinion of their own.  Personally, it's awesome when an junior high student picks it up and places it in his teacher's hand.  Then, that teacher takes that book and passes it out five years later to a Senior High English class. 

G is Grandma

Grandma taught me many things.  She taught me how to sew, crochet, and stand up for myself.  Grandma tried to teach me to knit, but for some reason, I still haven't gotten the hang of it.

I loved to listen to my grandma's stories.  She had so many bits of wisdom.  She wasn't the flowery kind, and she swore like a sailor.  That was part of her charm.

I was with grandma when she died.  We were lucky enough to remember all of her stories and songs.  I sang "Yellow Bird" to her like she sang to me.  Two months before grandma passed, my daughter was born and was baptized.  My pastor put the sign of the cross on Allison's head and said "Allison Ann, child of God, welcome to "Family of God"  When grandma died, her pastor made the sign of the cross on her head and said, "Shirley June, Child of God, welcome to the "Kingdom of God".  That always brings me peace.

F is for Family

I love my family.  I'm so lucky to have such kind daughters and a funny husband.  We love to go places together.  I love to have them around me.

One of my favorite things is to overhear my daughters talking.  The eldest giving the youngest advice, and most of the time, the advice is pretty good. 

When I graduated college, my mom and dad, my mother-in-law, my girls, and Jason all came to see me walk across the stage.  I wanted my daughters to see me achieve my dream.  I wanted that to be embedded in their brains.  Work and  your dreams can come true!

D is for Dreams

I couldn't decide if I was going to chose D for Dad or dreaming.  I figured dreaming covered both concepts!  My dad is the wisest man I know.  He always cheered my dreaming on.  I am where I am today because of my dad.

Dreams are only dreams until you work hard to achieve them.  My dad didn't go to college because he and mom started a family at such a young age.  Dad worked hard at his job and eventually got a promotion as a Line Superintendent at Red Lake Electric.

When I went back to school, I would call dad to tell him about my struggles and triumphs.  He was there to remind me to learn from my mistakes.  He kept me going. 

Autobiography A - Z: A is for Allison

My Practical English class is writing their Autobiography -- an Alphabetic Biography - This will be something they can put out at their graduations and think about what's important to their lives.  Maybe it'll be one last chance for  me to get to know them even better.  As they write their autobiographies, I will write mine.

A is for Allison

Allison  Ann is my second born.   One of the first things I noticed about her is that she is very smiley, and she likes to snuggle.  When the nurses and daddy took her away to bathe, she cried and cried until she was returned to momma.  She hasn't liked to bathe ever since!

Allison is very flexible.  Yesterday, she called out to me; "Mom look!"  She was doing the splits up against the wall.  You read that right.  One foot was on the floor, and the other pointed to the ceiling.  Crazy girl.  Allie's dream is to go to the Olympics as a gymnast.  Well, that has been what she has talked nonstop about since last summer when she met the neighbor-lady's granddaughter who is in gymnastics in Fargo.  She and her cousin have set up a gym in her aunt's basement. They have beanbags and sleeping bags to cushion their falls.

Allison loves apple pie and Chicken Belden.  She loves fashion, and her favorite store is Justice. My Allie is a dreamer.  She is full of love.  She is confident and won't let anyone bully anyone else in her presence.  She has been rumored to stick up to the big kids on the playground.  No one gets in her way. She sticks up for the underdog.  She is my Allie.

Dreaming

When I realized that there are kids out there who don't know how to dream, it broke my heart.  All this talk of dreams really ticked some of them off

"I don't have a dream - I'm not good at anything."

This stumped me. As a young teen, I didn't have a lot of self-confidence either, but at least, I had a dream.  I was going to become famous.  I might not have been the best singer, writer, student, athlete, or actress, but I was going to become famous.

I think it was because I had books.  I had an escape from school.  Books gave me a dream.

So - I try.  I try and give them a dream by demonstrating others' dreams.  Maybe they don't know of all the possible dreams out there.

Like this



How cool is that?  Reading through journals, I could see one day one girl's dream was to have a family - which is a good dream in itself.  But, the next day, she added canoeing in the Mississippi as another strand of dream woven into her life.

Why didn't I do it sooner?

This week, I started a twitter feed for my class.  All I can think of is "Why didn't I do this sooner?"   Seventh Graders were reading an excerpt from Into Thin Air by Jon Krakuer.  They were fascinated by Krakauer's account of Mount Everest.  They started asking questions about what I knew about Mount Everest.  I didn't know much.

Then, I remembered Flat Stanley.  A few years ago, Belden had taken Allie O's Flat Stanley with him to the Taj Mahal and ta daaaaa  Mount Everest. I had thought about shooting him an e-mail or texting him but at the spur of the moment, I decided to tweet him. 

The kids had a bunch of questions for him.  When he didn't answer the questions right away, I explained that he was at work.  He would probably tweet on his lunch break. Which he did, and I pointed out the next day.

And at that moment, I realized my class needed its own twitter account.  We would ask the questions we needed, and we would shout out to the world our morsels of wisdom.  I would put up homework reminders and use "Tweets of the Day" as journal prompts.

And I just wonder, "Why didn't I do this sooner?"

Apocalypse - a Story of a Water Beetle

 One day, at the end of the school year, I decided to take a little walk to Cenex during a break.  When I left the school, the streets were unusually quiet.  The air felt strange to me.  I felt as though some life lesson or major life event was about to take place.
 
I skipped a bit and looked down.  That's when I saw a bug.  This bug was the biggest bug I had ever seen in my entire life.  So, I took a picture of it with my cell phone.

 

 

The picture was very, very disappointing.  There's no way anyone could have imagined how  big this bug was to me.

That's when I saw two seniors walking into the school.  I was actually relieved because I started wondering if, in fact, I had been left behind and was living in an apocalyptic world inhabited just by me and these scary looking bugs.

 They pondered the bug with me for a while, and we went on our separate ways.  I, to Cenex - They, to class.

I thought about this bug.  I wondered about it and suddenly found myself in front of the store with a big bang.  My shoe had caught on to the first step.  I fell with a thud with my cheek basically smearing down the glass door.  It was not unlike a bird who flies into a fresh window.

A man rushed out of the store and helped me up.  I brushed myself off and found myself inside Cenex which had a bustle of people giggling at my mishap.

I reached for the Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and reached inside my purse to find the money to pay.  And, inside I found I had some yogurt which had sprayed it's contents entirely over my delightful purse.  Key lime pie flavored coins and make up were part of my world.

I went back to school and cleaned up in the teacher's lounge sharing my story with my colleagues. The Biology teacher knew which bug I was talking about right away.

I hadn't imagined size of this bug.  And I wasn't LEFT BEHIND to fight an apocalyptic battle against zombies, either.

Being who they want to be.

One of my favorite parts of summer is regrouping from the school year.  Part of re-grouping is reading what other teachers have to say.  As I've mentioned before one of my favorite blogs comes from Teacherscribe - Mr. Reynolds always provides great professional reading links and thoughts on becoming a better teacher.  He pointed out this blog post recently and offered his own thoughts in another post. 

George Courous  prioritizes getting to know students as the number one way to becoming a master teacher.  I agree.  Over the weekend, I had been thinking about what makes an effective teacher.  Courous listed "Knowing Students" as a number one priority.  I think this means putting aside their test scores, what we know about their family, and what other teachers say.

We need to show an interest in who they are, and sometimes, this means knowing who they want to be.  Who they want to be is much more important than who they are.  We need to look at their potential.  Who could they be if they had the right cheerleader?  Who could they be if they had one person believing in them?

I'm one of those teachers who always cheers for the underdog.  I get it - kids can do some rotten things to each other.  Sometimes, we just need to point out that it was a poor choice and move on.

Kids need to know we know who they want to be.  Kids need to know we want to help them be who they want to be.

I had a Concussion?

At some point Monday, I bopped my head on a coat rack while visiting with another staff member.  All I remember is a smarting pop to my ear, and my co-worker asking me if I was okay.

"Yeah.. I think so."  I rubbed my ear packed up what I needed to do for the next day's class and went home.

Later that night, I brought the family to Natalie's Public Speaking Night for her Speech Team.  Those two hours deserve a whole blog post in its own as those kids gave an amazing performance.

I came home to an earache.  I didn't think I could take any pain medicine as I was to have a small medical procedure on Wednesday morning and thought I was told not to take anything four days before my procedure.  I went to bed early and had the WACKIEST DREAMS EVER.

For instance, I dreamed I was filling a dishwasher over and over again.

I dreamed my co-worker WAS DATING MY MOTHER-IN-LAW.

I dreamed that I was teaching school in the basement of a church.

After that wacky night, I awoke to a Smart Wool socks infomercial on our local radio groaning at the host's description of his Athlete's Foot.

The first thing I realized is that my ear hurt.  I stood up, put my robe on, and walked into the kitchen to make coffee.

"Holy Cat Chow"  I whispered.  My head was throbbing.  "I need coffee."

My stomach seemed upset so I took a few Tums and started a bath. 

In the bath, I realized I was too sick to go to school.

"Why is this pain happening to me?  Who around me had the stomach flu?  Why does my head and my ear hurt so bad?"  These thoughts tried to form in my spongy brain.  I called for Jason, but it hurt to say his name.

"Jason....  Jason..... Jason ... Jason"

He wasn't hearing me.  Finally,  (and sorry about this)  I rushed out of the bath to toss my cookies or Tumsss...  and Allison rushed to the bathroom door...

"Mom are you okay?"

"Kind of.. go get your dad."

"Dad,"  I heard Allison call to Jason.  "Mom is sick; she needs you."

Jason came to the bathroom and brought me to my room.  He helped me get dressed and took directions on how to call a sub in for my.  He met a co-worker at her home in Terrebonne to bring the Despicable Me and  Kung Fu Panda  DVDs to the sub.  Which of course, why were they watching these movies in Spanish?  That's another blog post for another day.

Meanwhile, Allison decided she was sick.  And she had all the same symptoms I had.  So, she had tears and everything.  Somewhere in my head,  I knew that she just had sympathy pains for me, but I was too tired to argue with her.

When Jason, finally, left for work, She went to her room with my kindle and played Angry Birds.

I got a phone call from the nurse regarding my surgery the next day.

She gave me some sort of instruction.  That went something like this;

"Number one, blah blahdy blah blahh blah."

and

"Get here  at atey thirty blah de blah blah."

She went on, and I listened carefully as I lay  on the couch.with the phone to me ear.  When she's finished, she asked if I have any questions.

"Yeah,  I do."  I braced myself to speak. "Can I have Tylenol?  I bunked my ear, and now, my head hurts so bad, and I've vomited like four times.  Tylenol sounds so good."

"Well," she answered.  "If you feel that you have the flu, please call ASAP so we can keep our schedule.  And yes, you may have Tylenol."

I hung up the phone and walk slowly into the kitchen and take two Tylenol.  I called my mom at home.  I wanted sympathy from someone.

"I think you need to go to the doctor."  she said.  "I don't think you'll be having surgery."

I called and told Amy my predicament.  Being the mother of a certifiable hypochondriac, I knew the receptionist on a first name  basis.

"Come in at 1:30,"  she said quietly.

I fell asleep for twenty minutes.  The phone rang.  The phone ringing brought the most pain in the world.  It was Amy.

"Uhhh  do you think you could come in, now.?"

Somehow, I made it to the doctor.  She told  me I had a concussion and to take the next few days off.  No procedure for me.  Also, she offered to call the scheduling nurse and explain my concussion.  I text my sister and husband and told them not to call me.  I called my mom and told her that Lois, the owner of the convenience store, was telling me something probably important about my nephew before my appointment.

"I think he's  been trying to buy energy drinks, mom...  I can't remember though."

I got home with my crackers, Tylenol, and Ginger Ale.  Jason came home for lunch and fed Allison....

I survived.  I slept most of the day and the next day, too.

Today, I will go to work, but don't ask me to do any math. My brain is still a bit spongy.

Letter of Recommendation ...

If I'm ever a boss, I'm going to write a letter of recommendation for my employees every year. What brings this up? Well, my boss wrote the nicest letter of recommendation for me. He had my teaching dreams pinpointed. His letter showed me that he got me. He knew how much I cared about my students and that he appreciated my hard work. The kinds of words of encouragement that put a smile on an employee's face. The kinds of words that make one feel like they are on a personal legend.... sigh...

And so, if I'm ever a boss- I'm going to write my employees a letter of recommendation so they have something to read if they ever wonder if they're appreciated.

People I Think are Totally Awesome...

Hey there are some awesome people in the world who do awesome things.

1. Foster parents - the kind who dress their foster children cutely. The kind that tucks kids in at night and hold their hands when they are scared. Not the kind who make them wear sweatsuits in July and never let them out to play.

2. Grandmas - they can teach you how to sew, crochet, knit, tat, and make lefse.

3. Teachers - ok... I know I'm a teacher, but hey... the situation is that I'm a teacher because I had awesome teachers like Mr. G., Mrs. Harren, Mr. Amundson, Mr. Derosier, Dr. Drake, and so, so many more. I also love my daughters' teachers. They are the cat's meow! Teachers are always thinking of ways to make kids' lives better. I admire that.

4. Doctors- especially the ones that saved Jason's life when he took allergy shots and went into anaphaltic shock. OH! And the doctors that have not told me I was a freak when I was worried about my girls' asthma - yeah those doctors are awesome too.

5. Friends - what would I do without them? They inspire me to be a better person everyday. They cheer me on. They tell me when I'm wrong.... I guess I'm wrong sometimes or something.

Someone Who Matters - My Mr. G.

Whenever I see Mr. G., he says "Hello Bobbi G. How are ya?" Mr. G. was my 7th and 8th grade math teacher and my Spanish I and II teacher in senior high!
I suppose I will always be Bobbi G. to him. Sometimes, he laughs and says "Oh but your not Bobbi G. You're Mrs. Aakhus I suppose now!"

My dad said that Mr. G. was his favorite teacher because he never yelled. He was always soft spoken and kind. Mr. G. had been my dad's math teacher. He often told me how smart my dad was. I believed him.

Mr. G. goes to my church. Sometimes, if I haven't been to church in while and I finally go; Mr. G. will hug me and tell me he's missed me. IF THAT'S NOT A GUILT TRIP! But, it works!

It seems as though whenever I ask a high school friend who their favorite teacher was they almost always say Mr. G.