Search results matching tags 'life lessons' and 'barbra stephens'

You Drop Stuff!

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:31:00 GMT

“It is more easy to be wise for others than for ourselves.”
~François Duc de La Rochefoucauld

I often used stories to get a point across to kids. My parent’s did it to me…worked like a charm, by the way.
I do it now, but sometimes it backfires…an ‘in your face backfire’. It just goes to show that kids are really listening when we big people speak.
I was a newbie teacher…I’ll use that excuse, I guess, and a perky three-year-old wanted to carry in a tray of cupcakes for me from the kitchen. It was rather heavy and I didn’t have the heart to tell Alana, ‘no’.
Instead, I told her a story about how I dropped a cake when I was in the kitchen…a great parable-I thought, and how my mom was really disappointed and couldn’t make another one until the next day.
Alana listened intently and her bright blue eyes got very big.
“You understand why I am telling you this now don’t you, Alana?”
“Oh…oh, yes, Ms Barbra…I do, I do!” She said nodding her head up and down.
“Good.” (Point made-I thought smiling to myself picking up the cupcakes)
Immediately Alana reached for the tray of cupcakes trying to take them from me.
“Alana! What are you doing?” We began to struggle for the tray.
“Ms. Barbra…let go…..you drop stuff, you even said so!”

Getting Found

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:32:00 GMT

“The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others."
~ Ghandi

I an not too fond of whining. My mother claims I was whined as a child…..sorry, Mom-I feel you.
My mother gave me things to do. She kept me busy….I, in turn, keep a busy classroom.
It has been my experience that kids that whine either want attention from adults or may feel lack ill at ease with their own peers. Whatever the case, I work very *** bonding and engaging them to focus and work and feel comfortable within the classroom. Usually, by making them a ‘helper’ within the classroom setting they begin to feel empowered and build confidence while I work more closely with them. It’s amazing to see that as the school year progresses, so do they.
I have found that kids that were my ‘helpers’ in the beginning are more apt to take initiative helping others that seem a bit ‘lost’ within the classroom….it’s a beautiful situation.

Get Growing

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:33:00 GMT

"If a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it."
~Edgar Watson Howe

Ever notice how children move into action when someone is in trouble? Babies are some of the most empathetic 'little people' on earth…they will cry with you. Kids hug you; make you 'a present'-usually covered in glue or some other sticky substance-but the message always comes across.
A million hallmark cards couldn’t beat one handmade card form a child’s heart.
It’s true…what my mom told me.
“That from the heart reaches the heart.”
Okay…so we can’t all go back to physically being a kid….but I know we can get that heart back.
I believe the human soul can mature…but really, it has no age.
So I guess it’s my turn now….to implement what the kids have been teaching me.
To get growing and put love into action….

The Fruit of a Days Work...

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:33:00 GMT

“In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years.”
~Jacques Barzun

When I first began working with kids I was around 17. I worked at an after school program and did arts and crafts with a group of five-year-olds. I did a lot of things then I wouldn’t do now…not that I did anything wrong, I was just really up tight and critical of myself.
One thing I never even dreamed of was giving up on kids. And I’ve dealt with some hum-dingers. I met their parents and I understood a little more.
I had a situation a few years into my teaching career where I got wind I child was to be kicked out of preschool…for biting….he was two-years-old. I’ll I could think of was, not on my watch! I worked at a special needs program at the time and I appealed to the board to have him transferred to my room. I was the child’s last resort. I worked with a wonderful team teacher and together we learned his family history, conference with his former teachers, and worked with his foster parents. His own personal background was heartbreaking…what this little boy had witnessed at such a tender age-biting was mild compared to what he could have been going though.
We worked with “Shane” for months and months; shadowing him, talking to him, and slowly seeing him spiral in and out of progress. The biting stopped all together and he eventually graduated the program….but both my team teacher and I wondered what happened to him after that.
Years later I ran into a rather handsome and well dressed young man at the grocery story. He helped me with my bags…(I am a bit clumsy) he commented he was helping his grandmother get her groceries and was on her way to see her…He said he was going to college after he graduates high school.
“Ms Barbra?”
“Yes?” I said.
“You don’t remember me? It’s me..Shane. You were my favorite teacher.”

Teacher’s Pet

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:33:00 GMT

“Avoid popularity if you would have peace.”
-Abraham Lincoln

Does it still go on in classrooms-teacher’s pets? When I was a young child the teacher used to have what was called a “teacher’s pet”. He or she is usually the class nerd..uh, I mean, a poor unsuspecting smart kid that was always made an ‘example of’ by the teacher. Our teacher usually riddled them with compliments and goodies in front of everyone. I guess this was supposed to encourage good behavior…but sometimes it did the opposite. In one class member’s case-she had to take boxing lessons. After about 3 months everyone left her alone because she had gotten really good…and our teacher created a monster! By the seventh grade she was known as that ‘Angry-Heavy-Metal Girl-Who-Beats-Everyone-Up’. Quite a handle for a twelve-year-old. Funny…….huh, I really didn’t feel THAT angry….ahem...
Kids exaggerate SO much....

The Dead Bird

Anonymous — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:35:00 GMT

I recall being very young and finding a dead humming bird with my young sister and our next door neighbor, Angie. I insisted on holding a funeral a ceremony and I hummed the eulogy. I intermittantly hushed two girls giggling like cartoon mice as I hummed solemnly with my eyes closed. They were age three and I was five-years-old. All I really knew was that you were 'supposed to do somthing for something that died’. After that, I went off and played but I remember wondering about the bird...where did he go from there? My Mom sent me an E-mail the other day and I remembered the bird, again.Everyone and every culture deals with death differently. Some cultures celebrate it-and in others, it’s taboo. Young children may not understand the complexities of a lifespan or cycle. But they have a strong sense of what is going on around them in their environment. Here is the post my Mom sent…Thanks Mom, I love you!

While walking along the sidewalk in front of his church, our minister heard the intoning of a prayer that nearly made his collar wilt. Apparently, his 5-year-old son and his playmates had found a dead robin. Feeling that proper burial should be performed, they had secured a small box and cotton batting, then dug a hole and made ready for the disposal of the deceased. The minister's son was chosen to say the appropriate prayers and with sonorous dignity intoned his version of what he thought his father always said: 'Glory be unto the Faaather, and unto the Sonnn, and into the hole he goooes.'