Wanderer

I am tired, and do not have much to say except that I am tired. The first two days of school wore me out. What am I going to do next week when we have five days of school?

The truth is, I'll feel better next week because by then I will have gotten into the routine of going to bed by 9:30 or 10:00 pm rather than staying up past 11:00. I heard other teachers saying the same thing: that they were not getting much sleep, either because they are not going to bed early enough, or because they go to bed early but can't fall asleep thinking about all that needs to be taken care of each day.

Many of our teachers have young children and/or infants to take care of when they get home. I don't know how they do it. My child is grown and living on his own. I know I could not have been a teacher and raised a child. I am often mentally exhausted when I get home from school, and need the down time to rest and rejuvenate. I know a mother of young children or babies does not get much rest. If she does, she has a very helpful husband at home. I admire our young teachers. God bless them each and every day.

When a few second graders came into my classroom today for reading, one of them, who had already seen the ant habitat, told the others about it, then they all wanted to see it. I knew I had to take it out and show it to them or I would not have their attention during that class. For five minutes we talked about ants and their tunneling habits, and I answered their questions.

Second graders are an interesting group of kids... they already think they understand the things of the world, and are not afraid to announce what they know. They have a trusting nature, and feel pretty safe in their world. Their questions are endless, and honest. They want to know why people do the things they do, why animals and insects act the way they do. In fact, they already have an explanation for everything that moves.

I understand why Art Linkletter would put them in front of his camera and ask them questions about their parents. They always had such funny, and often insightful, answers. Today, one of the boys wanted to know about a bug enclosed in acrylic, setting on the top shelf of my bookcase. I told him it was a preying mantis. He said he had never heard of those. Another boy immediately responded with, "They are big, and poisonous, and if they bite you, you will die." He  spoke with such authority and certainty. I asked him who told him that, and he said his grandmother. I assured him that preying mantises found in North Carolina were not poisonous, and that it was against the law to kill one. He shrugged his little shoulders and said, "I told her they wasn't poisonous, but she didn't listen to me!" 

A friend of mine emailed me a reminder from another teacher who cannot get through the day without prayer. I agree. I could not get through the day without taking a moment to be silent and still, and I do mean a moment, in which I send a breath prayer out to the Lord of All Creation, and feel its return to my heart, assuring me that I only need to walk one step at a time, one day at a time. Though I am tired, I am not weary for I know that all I need is given to me each day, and I don't ask for any more than that.

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