When I left my house at 6:15 yesterday morning, my shoes were clean. I liked my shoes. They were comfortable. They fit my feet beautifully. They received many compliments from my 8th graders. They're not clean anymore.
Yesterday, I went on an 11-mile hike with 39 8th graders, two other teachers, and a parent. It was an interesting terrain through pine forests (where we were all on the look-out for flying pinecones), over stagnant creeks, and dried-up marsh. We walked through sugar sand, jumped over stumps, and crawled under fallen branches. I shook my head when the girls screamed at the sight of a banana spider 20 feet over our heads. I laughed at the students' analysis of the excrement filled with undigested berries. (Is it a deer...a hog...a bear...or Sasquatch?) We all complained a little, especially when we thought we were near the end.
I am thrilled to say that I made it to the end. We all did, complete burr scratches, tick marks, filthy pants, and sweaty t-shirts. That's quite an accomplishment. 11 miles is no walk around the mall. There were a few times when I thought I would just sit down and wait for someone to come get me. Even though we're in Florida, there were plenty of ups and downs...and twists and turns that had to be accommodated.
It was a beautiful day. Many of the students on the hike are from New York or the Caribbean, and they marveled at how "primitive" it all seemed. ("I never thought I'd ever see anything like this!") They celebrated the beauty of miniature pine cones and tiny flowers. They wove together stories of what it must have been like for the early Spanish explorers to cross a Florida terrain similar to this one and imagined forest battles between the British and the Colonists. Some boys would jump ahead to clear palmetto fronds and dead branches from the trail. The day was filled with real life...laughter and conversation and hard work and a fabulous reward in the end (a dip in the springs).
This morning, after processing the experience, I'm left with the question of why our kids today are not learning. I believe that it's mostly because we don't give them a chance to experience the world. We recite the facts and leave out the passion. They don't see the inspiration, motivation, and passion that has led people to change the course of history. They know they need a noun and a verb to make a sentence, but they don't understand the value in the written word.
How could they? We live in a world with no absolutes. Everything is acceptable, and questioning the "status quo" is an abomination. Everything is equal in value. So what we're left with is a bunch of empty souls running around searching for meaning (because that's what the soul was designed to do) and getting lost in the process. Can you blame them for being confused? If blue is the same as red, does it really matter that I painted my sky green? It's so sad.
I'll stop here because I have more say on this subject, but I'm not yet ready to file away my memories of the orange trail. My muscles aren't ready to forget it yet, either!
Yesterday, I went on an 11-mile hike with 39 8th graders, two other teachers, and a parent. It was an interesting terrain through pine forests (where we were all on the look-out for flying pinecones), over stagnant creeks, and dried-up marsh. We walked through sugar sand, jumped over stumps, and crawled under fallen branches. I shook my head when the girls screamed at the sight of a banana spider 20 feet over our heads. I laughed at the students' analysis of the excrement filled with undigested berries. (Is it a deer...a hog...a bear...or Sasquatch?) We all complained a little, especially when we thought we were near the end.
I am thrilled to say that I made it to the end. We all did, complete burr scratches, tick marks, filthy pants, and sweaty t-shirts. That's quite an accomplishment. 11 miles is no walk around the mall. There were a few times when I thought I would just sit down and wait for someone to come get me. Even though we're in Florida, there were plenty of ups and downs...and twists and turns that had to be accommodated.
It was a beautiful day. Many of the students on the hike are from New York or the Caribbean, and they marveled at how "primitive" it all seemed. ("I never thought I'd ever see anything like this!") They celebrated the beauty of miniature pine cones and tiny flowers. They wove together stories of what it must have been like for the early Spanish explorers to cross a Florida terrain similar to this one and imagined forest battles between the British and the Colonists. Some boys would jump ahead to clear palmetto fronds and dead branches from the trail. The day was filled with real life...laughter and conversation and hard work and a fabulous reward in the end (a dip in the springs).
This morning, after processing the experience, I'm left with the question of why our kids today are not learning. I believe that it's mostly because we don't give them a chance to experience the world. We recite the facts and leave out the passion. They don't see the inspiration, motivation, and passion that has led people to change the course of history. They know they need a noun and a verb to make a sentence, but they don't understand the value in the written word.
How could they? We live in a world with no absolutes. Everything is acceptable, and questioning the "status quo" is an abomination. Everything is equal in value. So what we're left with is a bunch of empty souls running around searching for meaning (because that's what the soul was designed to do) and getting lost in the process. Can you blame them for being confused? If blue is the same as red, does it really matter that I painted my sky green? It's so sad.
I'll stop here because I have more say on this subject, but I'm not yet ready to file away my memories of the orange trail. My muscles aren't ready to forget it yet, either!
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