Reflections

Every lunchtime, Jc methodically takes out his food in the order in which it will be eaten (read: from dessert to snack to sandwich).
Today, he took out his prized fruit roll-up, undoubtedly the highlight of his lunch, and then wandered away from the table for a second or two. Upon his return, and to his horror and disbelief, his fruit roll-up was nowhere to be found.
Jc searched the perimeter of his table, crawled underneath, traced his footsteps back to the classroom... before defeatedly coming to me.

Mr. W, I don't know what happened to my fruit roll-up. I think someone stole it.
Well, when was the last time you had it? When did you take it out of your lunchbox?
I specifically remember sitting it right here beside my lunchbox. Then I walked away and when I came back it was gone.

A wave of disbelief came over him.

I can't believe someone would just... [eyes well up] steal it. Why would they steal it?

Exposure to the real world. A fruit roll-up, a bank, a place in line, or a business, welcome to the real world.
And I'm sorry. Next time, what can you do?

I thought it would be safe beside my lunchbox. But I guess... not.
I guess it's not. You'll have to keep it in your lunchbox and eat from there in the future.

***

On another note, I started my 50% today and began teaching writing.
In teaching kids to write non-fiction, we're making "How-To" books, where students practice sequencing detailed writing. Today, as an introductory lesson, students had to brainstorm six different things that they could write about in their new how-to books. Oh, the imagination!

How to be a Magnificent Muslim (girl)
How to make a stawberry smothy
How to make puppy pancakes
How to get to school from my home
How to put your leg over your head
How to draw a same shape getting smaller
How to put some "B.E.E.F." in your jumpshot
How to make my mom's Famous Red Velvet cake!
How to get a fairy to come to you (start to believe in them)

Sometimes I feel like kids exist to be creative and to let imagination fly in, out and through boxes upon boxes. Sometimes they need structure to help channel their thoughts, but sometimes structure confines their thinking too much and demands that they demonstrate a certain amount of specific knowledge. I feel like a lot of instruction aims to catch pieces of their imagination so that they can piece their thoughts together... but I also don't think imagination is meant to be so simply threaded together.

I can just see it. If I hadn't asked them to plan what they wanted to write before starting their how-to books, and to commit to the first thought or glimpse of inspiration in them, then they would never discover that ingenious or creatively flooring third or fourth idea. And so I think, what if I hadn't made that worksheet to help guide their thinking, where they had to draw an illustration and write a focused, detailed "How-To" idea? Would another structure (or lack of structure) have benefitted them more? How do I know how large the diameter of my butterfly net should be in order to catch their colorfully-patterned imaginations?