This morning I sat amongst 500 chatty middle schoolers who crowded into the small gym as we always do every January to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King. I brought kleenex this time because Dr. King's voice echoing off the bleachers and filling a crowd of young eager minds gets my mascara running every time.
"Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.
You don't have to have a college degree to serve.
You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.
You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve.
You don't have to know Einstein's "Theory of Relativity" to serve.
You don't have to know the Second Theory of Thermal Dynamics in physics to serve.
You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love, and you can be that servant."
What will you do? Our student body president asks us all at the conclusion of the assembly.
How will you serve?
I can answer that.
I'm for ending the vicious cycle of illiteracy that closes doors for my students and breeds ignorance, self-loathing, shame and apathy. My plan to serve entails empowering my students to be reading role models in their homes and communities. The idea is if I can teach my students the tools to crack the code and they can share it with their brother, their sister than perhaps I might not see these names again on my roster two or three years down the line.
Before break my students got their first taste of community service on a field trip to the neighborhood elementary school where we sprawled out on the floor in pairs, reading books like Chicks and Salsa and Captain Underpants. Boys whose pants low ride, who have gritty My Space pages and behavior files thick as dictionaries suddenly turn fatherly. They hold books up like master storytellers changing their voices in sync with the characters they are portraying, smiling, nodding their heads, patting their buddies on the back.
Today after the assembly I rolled out part two of my plan and passed out reading logs and arm loads of picture books.
We can all serve even in our own homes. I told them.
Take these picture books and read them to your brothers and sisters. Read every night for a month. Ask questions, point to pictures, discuss interesting ideas and facts, laugh, listen. You only need a heart full of grace for this assignment and a soul generated by love and you can be that servant too.
"Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.
You don't have to have a college degree to serve.
You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.
You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve.
You don't have to know Einstein's "Theory of Relativity" to serve.
You don't have to know the Second Theory of Thermal Dynamics in physics to serve.
You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love, and you can be that servant."
What will you do? Our student body president asks us all at the conclusion of the assembly.
How will you serve?
I can answer that.
I'm for ending the vicious cycle of illiteracy that closes doors for my students and breeds ignorance, self-loathing, shame and apathy. My plan to serve entails empowering my students to be reading role models in their homes and communities. The idea is if I can teach my students the tools to crack the code and they can share it with their brother, their sister than perhaps I might not see these names again on my roster two or three years down the line.
Before break my students got their first taste of community service on a field trip to the neighborhood elementary school where we sprawled out on the floor in pairs, reading books like Chicks and Salsa and Captain Underpants. Boys whose pants low ride, who have gritty My Space pages and behavior files thick as dictionaries suddenly turn fatherly. They hold books up like master storytellers changing their voices in sync with the characters they are portraying, smiling, nodding their heads, patting their buddies on the back.
Today after the assembly I rolled out part two of my plan and passed out reading logs and arm loads of picture books.
We can all serve even in our own homes. I told them.
Take these picture books and read them to your brothers and sisters. Read every night for a month. Ask questions, point to pictures, discuss interesting ideas and facts, laugh, listen. You only need a heart full of grace for this assignment and a soul generated by love and you can be that servant too.
7 comments:
Chills.
You are awesome, my friend.
Heart full of grace...love you!
powerful post.
teary-eyed and cheering for all you do with your amazing heart, full of grace indeed.
Oh, this is awesome, mamacita. Such good work. You know Dr. King would be proud.
I wish I was half the teacher you are! xx
Beautiful. You brought tears to my eyes. There is nothing more impowering to kids who aren't sure of their direction than to be a guide for someone else.
You rock Seattle Mamacita!
bravo, you.
bravo.
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