"You Learn By Living"

I have had to come to terms with a few things as I've gotten older.
 
First:  I don't bounce back from injury as quickly as I once did.  In fact, "bounce back" may not even be the proper term.  I think "learn to live with the pain" might be more accurate.
 
Second:  My taste buds have changed as I've aged.  I never liked blueberries, coleslaw, or hummus when I was younger.  Now, I enjoy all of these and I may possibly be addicted to hummus.  I'm glad I decided to try these foods again.  I've also developed a taste for coffee at any time of the day.  You know you are "getting old" when you enjoy coffee at lunch.

Third:  I am, what the students would call, a nerd.  I was probably always a nerd, but hid it well (or no one bothered to mention it to me).  I don't care if I'm labeled a nerd.  I embrace nerdhood (get it:  Nerd Hood) with a ferocious gusto.  Nerds are "in" right now.  Being nerdy is "hip"(but saying "hip" isn't "hip"). 
If you are unsure what I mean by nerd, I will explain in the personalized list below:

1.  I thoroughly enjoy documentaries.  Not only do I enjoy them, but I want others to enjoy them.  So, I tell all sorts of people about the documentaries I watch and then follow up to see if they've watched them based on my glowing recommendation.  I'm always a little disappointed when they choose to watch Vampire Diaries or Pretty Little Liars instead.  I'm sure my enjoyment of documentaries has a lot to do with my complete love and passion for history since many documentaries feature historical topics.  I guess loving history adds to the "nerdhood".

2.  I read a lot.  Books are everywhere in our home.  I have no restraint in a bookstore.  I completely believe that Amazon.com chose to move to this area to be closer to me.  As you can probably guess, I tell people all about the books I'm reading and try to persuade them to read them, too.  And, yes, I'm always a little disappointed when they choose People Magazine instead of East of Eden, but at least they are reading.  I currently have 413 books on my Kindle e-reader and probably that many "real" books around the house.  I just hope I live long enough to read them all.

3.  I love quotes and random facts.  I have quotes and random facts written down everywhere.  I used to keep a file folder full of them in my classroom to "dazzle" the kids with.  Google kind of stole the "dazzle", but now I can find millions more quotes and random facts than before Al Gore invented the Internet.  I just wish I could remember them when I need to use them.  Random fact:  Ronald Reagan had a file drawer filled with hundreds of note cards on which he wrote quotes, jokes, and facts to use in his speeches.  They were recently published.   I should take a cue from Reagan and put all of my quotes, notes, and facts in one place. 
  

Several months ago, I caught part of a documentary about Eleanor Roosevelt on PBS.  Because I taught American history for many years I knew a bit about the former First Lady, but not very much about her life before marrying FDR or her life after his death.  I did not realize that Eleanor Roosevelt wrote several books and thousands of newspaper and magazine articles in her 78 years of life.  One of the books written by Eleanor Roosevelt is You Learn By Living.  It was published in 1961, just a year before her death.  I added this book to my huge collection of must-reads.  After reading just the introduction, I decided this was a book I needed to take notes from as I read (on my handy-dandy iPad2, of course). 

Here are some of the jewels I found in this book:

*"It is never enough, it seems to me, to teach a child mere information...What is essential is to train the mind so that it is capable of finding facts as it needs them, train it to learn how to learn."

*"It is the ideas stirred in your own mind, the ideas which are a reflection of your own thinking, which make you an interesting person."

*"If the child's curiosity is not fed, if his questions are not answered, he will stop asking questions.  And then, by the time he is in his middle twenties, he will stop wondering about all the mysteries of his world.  His curiosity will be dead."

*"The kinds of things with which you surround a child will sink into his consciousness."

*"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face...You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

*"One of the problems all parents face is that of bringing up their children to be as free of fear as possible.  Certainly you can't accomplish this unless you have developed a philosophy for yourself that is freed from fear.  If you can give them a trust in God, they will have one sure way of meeting all the uncertainties of existence."

*One of the secrets of using your time well is to gain a certain ability to maintain peace within yourself so that much can go on around you and you can stay calm inside."

See what I mean?  Eleanor Roosevelt was a smart lady and obviously highly valued education.  All of these quotes from You Learn By Living could have been written in 2011 instead of 1961.
 
Sometimes I think we get caught up in all the new "stuff" and forget that some things just don't change.  I enjoy reading about new trends in education, but education is still, and always should be, about feeding curiosity, instilling confidence, and training the minds of our students to learn for a lifetime.  The ultra-tech-savvy kids of today are really not that different from the students several decades ago.  They still have imagination, interest, and a sense of adventure of life.  Experience is still the master teacher; you truly learn by living.  At Boyd-Buchanan School, we just try everyday to fill in the gaps. God willing, we fill those gaps with the right things so that our students can achieve their dreams and be lifelong learners.  This nerd is in this for the long run, and I'm in good company.

--Renee Hood (a.k.a. Nerd Hood)--  

         

Buccaneers Got Talent

I don't normally watch America's Got Talent, but I did happen to tune in Wednesday night as TEN YEAR OLD Jackie Evancho sang my favorite opera piece, Nessun dorma from the final act of  Puccini's opera Turandot.  That's right...she is ten years old!  At ten I was reading Nancy Drew books and riding my bike every afternoon.  This girl has performed before millions of people.  Her talent is obviously awesome and the fact that she sang that piece quadrupled my chill bumps while I watched her sing (I think I have four versions of Nessun dorma on my iPod). 

I have always been a little envious of supremely talented people, especially the artistically talented.  I have not one shred of artistic talent.  I can't draw, sculpt, paint, sing...well, I can carry a tune, but you know what I mean.

What must it feel like to sing like this girl?  Her voice moves people to tears.  I will never know a Jackie Evancho type of talent.

What must it feel like to paint and draw like Victoria Witt, a BBS senior?  She's amazingly talented, as you can see.  I will never know a Victoria Witt kind of talent. 

What must it feel like to write a novel that moves people, makes them think, makes them laugh, and makes them cry, like Kathryn Stockett did with The Help?   I doubt I will ever know a Kathryn Stockett kind of talent.

It's easy to be envious of people with incredible talent.  But, it's also easy to forget how much time, energy, thought, and hard work people like Jackie Evancho, Victoria Witt, and Kathryn Stockett put into their talents.  I'm sure Stockett wrote a lot of rough drafts before publishing The Help.  I'm sure Jackie Evancho has missed a lot of notes in her hours and hours of practicing.  I've never seen anything that Victoria created that wasn't incredible, but I bet she's started over on a piece a few times before.  The talent doesn't replace the hard work.  It is enhanced and perfected through the hard work.

When I walk the halls and classrooms of Boyd-Buchanan School, I see so many talented kids and teachers.  Some kids don't think they have any talent, but they just haven't figured it out yet.  They all have God-given talent.
Most of the talents I see at school aren't the artistic talents highlighted above, although we've got some amazing artists, singers, and writers.

Some are gifted with humor and wit.  They make the routine of a school day much more fun.
Some are gifted with athletic skill.  They make us proud to be Buccaneers as we cheer them on.
Some are gifted with leadership skills.  They bring out the best in those around them.
Some are gifted with the art of friendship.  They are supremely loyal and dependable, and people just like being with them.

I see gifted musicians...poets...speakers...storytellers...photographers...builders...decorators...actors...

You name the talent, I can probably find you a BBS kid who has it. 
Those who couple their talents with hard work and passion are unstoppable.

One of the most rewarding parts of being a high school teacher is seeing how students move past high school with the skills and talents they've developed during high school.  We're blessed at a Boyd-Buchanan School to be able to say to these kids, "Look what God has given you!  Now, go use it to the best of your ability."

Erma Bombeck said it best in regard to talent:  “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything You gave me.”

--Renee Hood--

Remembering...

It's hard to believe that this Sunday is the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.  Sometimes the attacks seem like a lifetime ago.  Some days it feels like it just happened.
 
I will never forget getting the phone call in my classroom from the office a little before 9:00 that morning in 2001.  A member of the office staff said, "Renee, something is happening in New York City.  A plane has crashed into the World Trade Center.  You better turn on the television."  I turned on NBC as Matt Lauer was trying to decipher why a plane had hit the World Trade Center North Tower.  They were discussing the event as an accident.  Just about a minute after I turned on the coverage for my Advanced Placement U.S. History class to watch, the second tower was hit.  We all collectively gasped.  This was obviously not an accident.
 

Some students began to cry while others were stunned into absolute silence.  Some of them asked me, "Why is this happening, Mrs. Hood?  Who would do this?"  I, of course, had no idea.  I can still see their faces in my memory.  They needed answers and I couldn't give them any (an uncomfortable position for a teacher).  Throughout that awful day, the class bells rang and students filed in and out of my room.  They just sat in silence and watched the events unfold. 
Some cried.... 
Some were angry and voiced words of revenge.... 
Some slept because they didn't know how else to handle it....
I just watched and cried with them as the towers collapsed and New York City was thrown into chaos.  I couldn't help but flash back to my senior year when I visited NYC, including the World Trade Center Towers.  I had stood in that building, and so had some of my students. 

All of the students were sad.
All had unanswerable questions.
All were affected.

We, as Americans, were all shaped by the tragedy of 9/11, as we have been by many other historical events.  I would give anything to be able to have another conversation with my grandparents about the Great Depression and WWII.  My mother can tell me everything about the moment she heard on the radio that President Kennedy had been shot.  I remember watching the Challenger disaster on a black and white television in the BBS cafeteria in 1986 with my classmates.  And so on , and so on.... 
   
I would like to ask that the parents who read this blog share something from that day with your children this Sunday.  It doesn't have to be a deep, philosophical, political discussion.  In fact, it probably shouldn't be.  Just share where you were, how you found out, how you felt, what you were thinking....  Ask them what they know about it.  The seniors would only have been about seven or eight years old, so most of the high school students should have very little memory of that day.  I'm sure much of the horrible details were kept from them because they were so young. 

The events of 9/11 will always be available online for these students to watch and many of the questions about that day are now answered for them. But, what they are possibly missing is the personal touch that you can provide.  Your history.  You may think they never listen to you, but they will listen to this.  Someday they will even tell their children about where you were when the 9/11 attacks happened.  Your memories will become their memories.

I pray the families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks find some peace this weekend.  I know millions will be lifting them and this country up in prayer as we remember together.

--Renee Hood--