Kindergarten

I just got back from the Hunter program not too long ago...

I just feel compelled to blog...again...because I had SUCH an amazing experience today @ school. Today our entire lecture was centered on the art of effective classroom management. I was really challenged to grow today, and we had an entire presentation by a PHENOMENAL principal and educator from a charter school in Newark, NJ. Like...her presentation blew me away. She taught us about classroom management by putting us in the place of the students we'll be dealing with, modeling behavior with us so we could get some approximation of what it feels like to be a young learner again annnd so that we could learn the info she was presenting in a manner that was different from the typical workshop format that would truly stick to our memories. I was resistant at first to being treated like a kid...especially when she corrected how I wrote my own damn notes...but by the end, I was SOLD. It was such an inspiring day for me...that I wrote a little um...poem thing? ballad? about the feelings today inspired in me. I really connected with the budding educator in me today...we were in alignment, and were just really feeling each other's vibes. I really...GOT today how deeply revolutionary the teaching profession can be. I found myself anticipating and feeling mad affection for my students, most who I haven't even seen yet...kinda like a parent who anticipates and joyfully prepares for a child just conceived. I felt so ecstatic on the train ride home today that I had to get it out on paper. I hope you (the general you) can just get an idea of what I was feeling when I wrote the words...how humbled and honored I feel to be entrusted with the job of helping kids get in touch with their ability to learn and grow, of finding that precious balance between guiding them through the world safely and giving them the freedom to develop into their authentic selves, without imposing upon them archaic rules and limitations which have their soul-snuffing basis in colonization, domination and oppression.

In the spirit of sharing, I give you



Kinder Garden

Not having known you,
I already love you
And am creating space in my awareness
For your arrival

I'm pruning old, dying, and dead edges of me
Tearing down poison plants grown
From the soil of my conditioning

and clearing away bags of clutter
(deposited by old masters not myself)

So that when you come in,
There will be boundless room for you to

move

j
u
m
p

S T R E T C H

change me beyond belief

think

and breathe

Clean oxygenated air

and eat

Fresh fruits vegetables and grains

and drink

Plenty of fresh water

And love yourself
And the wide world
Without qualifiers

or endings(.)

<3


Maybe rather than a poem, it is the beginning of my teaching philosophy.

Meanwhile...

I have developed a strong desire to get my bottom lip pierced, on the side diagonal to my nose piercing. Wonder if a funky kindergarten teacher can fly...maybe I can get some real small, inconspicuous flesh toned jewel to wear for a while.