What Teachers Make

Teachers, have you seen this? It is a must-see... well worth three minutes of your time.

 


I had seen the video a while back and thought it was inspiring, but since I never saved it or copied down the link I lost track of it. That is, until this past Saturday when I stumbled upon Mali's book in Barnes & Noble. "What Teachers Make" by Taylor Mali is the book he wrote expanding on this poem, defending the teaching profession--the most rewarding career out there. I sat in Barnes & Noble and read the whole book straight through. More like devoured it. It was so good--motivating, empowering, and tear-jerking. While I'm in the midst of searching for and applying for teaching jobs, it was nice to take a break from the immense stress of it all (I'm so stressed I'm getting sick) and sit back and read a book, but not just any book. A book that reminded me why I'm doing what I'm doing. I can't wait until I have my own classroom and can dig in. Until then....

If you are an educator I highly recommend reading this book. It will re-inspire you. And now that it's just about summer break, what better time. You will not be disappointed. I give it 5 stars!!

The original poem:

What Teachers Make
by Taylor Mali

He says the problem with teachers is
What’s a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life
was to become a teacher?
He reminds the other dinner guests that it’s true
what they say about teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.
I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the temptation to remind the dinner guests
that it’s also true what they say about lawyers.
Because we’re eating, after all, and this is polite conversation.

I mean, you’re a teacher, Taylor.
Be honest. What do you make?

And I wish he hadn’t done that— asked me to be honest—
because, you see, I have this policy about honesty and ass-­‐kicking:
if you ask for it, then I have to let you have it.
You want to know what I make?
I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor
and an A-­‐ feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time
with anything less than your very best.
I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won’t I let you go to the bathroom?
Because you’re bored.
And you don’t really have to go to the bathroom, do you?
I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
Hi. This is Mr. Mali. I hope I haven’t called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something your son said today.
To the biggest bully in the grade, he said,
“Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don’t you?
It’s no big deal.”
And that was noblest act of courage I have ever seen.
I make parents see their children for who they are
and what they can be.

You want to know what I make? I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write.
I make them read, read, read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math
and hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you’ve got this,
then you follow this,
and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this.

Here, let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
Teachers make a ------- difference! Now what about you?

Dear Princess

 

My Princess,

I have raised you up to a place of great purpose, but there will be many who will not understand your position. Even you may not realize why I have strategically placed you here for such a time as this. You will be tempted to seek the approval of others and waste precious time defending the plans that I've placed in your heart.

But remember, I am the Lord your God. You did not choose Me... I chose you. I will lift you high above any circumstances that come against My divine purpose for your life. The only one who can stop My miraculous work in and through your life is you. So instead of making one more plan, give your plans completely to Me, and let Me finish the work I started in you.

Truth

"I can get my head turned by a good-looking guy as much as the next girl. But sexy doesn’t impress me. Smart impresses me, strength of character impresses me. But most of all, I am impressed by kindness. Kindness, I think, comes from learning hard lessons well, from falling and picking yourself up. It comes from surviving failure and loss. It implies an understanding of the human condition, forgives its many flaws and quirks. When I see that in someone, it fills me with admiration."
Lisa Unger, Beautiful Lies

My 23rd Birthday

 ~ 23 Random Acts of Kindness for my 23rd birthday ~

I had originally seen this on a blog somewhere and I've seen it a couple times online since. You spend your birthday doing nice things for other people. My birthday this year fell during my spring break so I was off and had the whole day free. Plans to go out of town fell through so I thought I should try this. It was really rewarding, although it was a lot more work than I thought! Not the being nice part but the running around town part. I would highly recommend doing this on your birthday (or not on your birthday) but I would suggest getting an early start and planning your day based on the locations of your acts. I prepared a list of ideas, some from online and some of my own, but I was looking forward to opportunities that arose unplanned, and those were the best.

Here's how mine went down: 

1. Leave cookies for the mailman

I attached the general note I made up that briefly explained my doings and then based on who or what I was doing I would personalize it or write a note like "enjoy coffee on me!" etc.
 

I also picked one thing (baking cookies) to do for several people. You can bake whatever you want or give as much money as you want but for me personally this was what I could afford, and making one huge batch and then dividing it up seemed easiest. The whole day cost me about $20-25. I'd say it was well worth it :)

2. Leave coins on a playground for children to find

This was fun! I felt like I was scattering food for the birds lol. 

3. Give cookies to construction workers

There happened to be a bunch of men working on the road near the playground I went to, and since it was FREEZING and gross on my birthday, I figured they were in need of cheering up. So a plate of cookies went to them.

4. Deliver thank you cookies to the police station

5. Donate books to the local library

6. Deliver cookies to the fire station

I especially enjoyed this one- they were a little confused at first when I wandered in there but once I explained, their reaction was great! They were so happy and nice. (And plus I feel like men appreciate the cookies more than women... a lady police officer greeted me at the police station and her reaction wasn't as fun, it was actually quite awkward, haha.)

7. Pay for someone else's coffee

This was great. A worker in an electric van pulled up behind us (this was where my mom joined me) in the Tim Horton's drive thru and after I paid for his I had the tim ho's worker give him the slip with my note on it :) He was nodding and waved up at us.

8. Donate clothes to the Salvation Army

9. Leave an uplifting sign on a community board 

We ended up leaving this in the fitting room at the Salvation Army... it seemed more fitting (no pun intended haha)

10. Bring cookies to Pam at Buff State

This woman in the financial aid office was so wonderful to me last fall, went out of her way to help me and made it possible for me to graduate this semester when things got messed up, and even though I already thanked her I wanted to visit again... she was so touched and got all teary eyed and we had a moment. It was probably in my top 3 moments of the day.

11. Put cash on someone's parking ticket (Can I get an AMEN all you Buff Staters??!)

This was something that I specifically wanted to do because I can't tell you how ruthless those Buff state po are and how many countless tickets I got... I thought for a moment maybe it would be hard to find a car with a parking ticket but no, who was I kidding! We found 6 right away with no problem. Several in the Burchfield of course. I put ten bucks inside one and left a note with their ticket... :)

12. Put change in an expired or almost expired parking meter  

13. Leave coins on a vending machine

Left money in a bag taped with a note to the front so the next person would see it.

14. Gave cookies to the hostess at Fridays

We went to dinner for my birthday and the hostess happened to be an old member of our church! We had a great time talking and laughing with her- she is a riot. I had an extra bag of cookies in the car. :)

15. Helped hold the doors open for two families and a girl on crutches

16. Send a card to someone in need

In this case, my friend's mother who has cancer. 

[Day 2] 

17. Call grandparents and tell them that I love them

18. Leave a dollar bill in the toy section of a store for a child to find

19. Bring cookies to the Salvation Army guy

He had just left when we tried to bring him coffee the day before, but I still wanted to do something for him since it was so cold those few days.

20. Pay for someone's toll fare

This also was a lot of fun. The car had several people in it and when they went by they honked and were waving and flashing the note in the window. This would be easy to do any time you go through a toll booth, why not do it every time?! The worker also seemed to enjoy taking a part in it, although next time I need to do something for them.

21. Go to the SPCA and donate money

Those dogs are so cute :)  

22. Apologize to someone for something you did wrong

I wrote to someone and apologized for something mean I did 11 years ago. This had been on my mind for a while, several years in fact. I think this one thing brought me the most satisfaction out of all 23 things.

[Day 3]

23. Donate blood

Ahhh!!! I did it! It was my first time. I got lightheaded after, which I thought would happen, but they took care of me and I got through it. 

 
I didn't get everything done exactly on my birthday so I did some things over the next two days here and there. I really wanted to get to my goal of 23 so as long as I did that I'm happy.

Thank you to those of you who participated in my RAK day by doing something nice for someone else and letting me know via facebook or text. You helped make someone's day a little brighter and I'm sure they appreciated your kindness! My personal favorite for creativity goes to Caleb, who said he held the door open 23 times for strangers. :)

Overall it was a great experience. What would the world be like if we were like this all the time? How many people would we effect? Especially as Christians we are called to love our neighbor as ourself, but are we REALLY doing that? I know we try to be kind and let Christ's love shine through us, we smile at people, help others in need, take that extra step and go out of our way to help someone, but how far are we willing to go? We get so wrapped up in our own worlds that we may be walking right by someone that needs us. I encourage anyone that has the time and energy to do this for a day to definitely do it, but please, don't just do it on that one day. Be kind every day. Be kind one to another. - Ephesians 4:32
   

Disclaimer: Based on a comment I feel the need to say- the purpose of this is not to receive any credit or glory for what I did. Please. The purpose for this post is to inform others what I did because there were many that expressed interest in doing this on their own birthday and asked me what specific things I chose to do. So I hope it helps. :)

Grace

Grace is the umbrella that protects us from the rain that is sin.
And *faith* is what brings us from the rain to get under the umbrella.
(Bro Brian)

Vintage Valentine's

Happy Valentine's Day!
Even though I'm single I don't mind this day. Never really have. Most people know that I'm content with my life right now and and happy just trusting in God and His plan. The season of singleness can be a blessing and I don't need a man to make me happy.
I'm normally not one of those sappy girls, I've never lamented how I'm alone and need a boyfriend, but on this day this song came up and I thought it was quite applicable for today :) "The Man I Love" by Gershwin has always been one of my favorites. Gershwin in general is one of my all-time favorites. I'm now watching Gone With the Wind for the first time... I'm feeling quite vintagey tonight. :)

"The Man I Love"

Music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin

You know I love me some Benny Goodman :)

But I love my ladies too... Billie and Ella... here's Billie:

And some of my favorite old [romantic] photos:

Dear America

Super Bowl 2013. What did you see?

Jennifer Hudson                                               Beyoncé

Come on America, who do we want our young girls to look up to?? Something in me was stirred up on Sunday when I saw both of these ladies perform at the Super Bowl. In this case, yes, I am judging a book by its cover and I'm not ashamed. Putting vocals aside, I naturally compared their fashion choices and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Granted, Jennifer Hudson was performing with the Sandy Hook Elementary choir (yes, touching) and I'm sure that Beyoncé would have dressed (and hopefully, performed) differently had she been singing in front of a children's choir too. But think about it, she WAS singing in front of children--she sang in front of almost every child and young person in America. And around the world. What are we teaching our children? It's obvious. Sex appeal is everywhere. It permeates every aspect of our media and society. Love and ultimately sex has sadly become the driving force and goal of many people's lives. It bothers me that what we viewed on Sunday was chosen to represent America on virtually the largest television night of the year. More people turn on the tv on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year, and it is considered to be a "family" event. So this is what America, young and old, is seeing as their icon, their representative. And I'm not just talking about the clothes, but also the nature of the performance. I wouldn't consider Beyoncé's performance "family friendly" by any means. And--yes, I'm going there--this is why other countries laugh at us. Why they think we are a joke and our women don't have morals. They look at Hollywood and see, well, for the most part, women without morals. I'm not talking about Beyoncé specifically but Hollywood and celebrities as a whole. What ever happened to classy women? Women who could be elegant, smart, and beautiful without showing every inch of skin and laying on the sex appeal so thick you have to scrape it off your screen? Where are the Audrey Hepburns of America? If I could zap myself to Hollywood and be this type of role model for the young girls of America and the world, I would. We need to take a stand for morals and for being classy... the right way.