Hail Storm

We just had a heck of a hail storm. This is the longest hail storm I have seen in years. It went on for 10 min. That's probably an afternoon storm in Florida, but it was pretty impressive to see. It seemed like January again.

My daughter and son took to collecting it and now I have three Ziplock bags of hail in my refrigerator. Good luck to Greg, Maria and their kids in their trip to PA this afternoon. I hope they don't run into more of this.

Kids Today

“Kids today don’t know how good they have it.” “Kids today are lazy and self centered.” “Kids today don understand the basics.” I have heard all of the following when it comes to kids or the teaching of them. I have had the distinct pleasure of teaching these same kids. I find the greatest part of the enjoyment in teaching comes from my interaction with them rather than the adults that deride. I am in no way suggesting that I have completed any kind of quantitative or quantitative study on adolescent behavior nor will I be doing any literature review, but given my five short years working with middle school students, I feel there are some observations that need to be made to help inform adults that have lost hope in their age deficient counterparts.

1. Kids listen to whoever is talking. The belief that kids don’t listen is just plain wrong. Kids listen. In fact, kids listen to everyone, that’s the problem. They lack the experience to filter out the bad advice from the good advice. Quite often the most charismatic voice heard will be taken as legitimate since they have so little evidence with which to compare (an affliction not escaping many adults). I have found in terms of how kids respond to me that how I say something matters more than what I say. The key to “teaching” is to get them both the “how” and the “what” right. Remember, I am battling MTV, ESPN and sometimes some really destructive parents to gather their attention.

2. Respect is earned not given. I do not get any credit for having my name on the door. To start from a position that suggests the students ought to respect me because of the position I hold automatically sets up a scenario in which I am looking down at my students. Every year I have to earn the respect of students. Most of the time it works but sometimes, regardless of time or effort, it doesn’t. When it works the respect I gained in outweighs the respect my position holds ten times over.

3. Kids care. Kids care about their family. Kids care about their world. Kids care about their education. Kids don’t always know how to care in a practical sense. They sometimes do not know the words to say our actions to take to demonstrate their concern but that’s the job of their teachers. Teachers help them find their way to be all of those things that our society wants them to be.

4. Kids are people. Kids are not adults nor do they have the experience cognitive ability or maturity, but that does not make them any less human. They are all infinitely complex bundles of nature and nurture. To treat them all as “kids” or “students” makes life for adults easier since one-size-fits-all characterizations make for easy solutions. But every kid needs to be looked at and treated like an individual. Because they are.

Am I scared for future in the future of this country? Sure. I was scared when I was a kid and I’m scared now. I’m scared that we will have a planet that can sustain our existence. I scared in our lifetime we will not end, or stop trying to end, war. I’m scared that our freedoms for which we’ve worked so hard will end in the name of fear and hatred. But if all of these things come to pass, it will not be because of the beliefs of the kids I know but more likely the beliefs of the adults I know.

Washington D.C Day 4

Hello to everyone back in Wisconsin. And even hello to anyone that happens to be somewhere else. I just finished up my last day in D.C. , well the last day that allows me enough time to do any sightseeing anyway, and we managed to get to a couple of museums and meet with Senator Kohl. Thanks to Alan T. from “up north”, we were able to see the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. It was an incredibly emotional and moving experience even with my knowledge of the events. To actually see the vast amounts of primary source material that the museum had on loan or part of the permanent display was indescribable. They actually had some of the bunks from Auschwitz. It was powerful in a way that, although emotionally draining, was something that everyone needs to see. It also prompted some excellent discourse about where we as a world were, where we are now and where we are going.

The Wisconsin NHD team along with a 4H group from WI had about a 30 min meet and greet with Sen. Kohl in the Hart Senate Offices. For those of you that are interested and didn’t know (I was one of them until yesterday,) the Senate and House each have separate buildings where they have their working offices. That is the Heart building. The Senator was very gracious in answering questions and even though his “handlers” tried several times to hurry him to his next appointment, he stayed and spoke to individuals and stood for photographs until everyone had a chance to meet him.

On a side note, it was good to see that even though the Hart building, like every building in the city, has bag checks and metal detectors at every entrance, there was no one asking us if we had an appointment or looking at us as though we did not belong. In fact we walked past several Senators and straight up to Senator Feingold’s office. We were about an hour and a half late to get a tour of the Senate, but his assistant tried to get an intern to give a short tour anyway. No luck but we were invited to come back tomorrow and we could have a tour anytime in the morning. There are only 100 Senators in the country and we at least had open access to their offices. This is how a democracy must work. It must be close to the people. This level of openness was in stark contrast to the reception that we received at the White House. In my humble and less than studied opinion, everything about the White House screamed “STAY OUT! This building is not for you.” Even my student noticed and wondered aloud “Don’t we pay for all that and shouldn’t we at least get to see it up close?” It’s hard to disagree.

Now, I know there are dangerous people out there and our elected leaders need protection from them in order for this country to maintain stability, but if certain leaders in this country continue to shield themselves behind an ever increasing wall to keep “us” out, we may end up with a government “by the people, for the people” but not “of the people.” Washington D.C. is our city. It’s our history. It belongs to everyone as it belongs to no one. It is in our character to commune with history the same as we commune with nature, up close and personal. Our history and our government must remain open and physically close for us to connect or we may loose that connection entirely. Nature is not a picture of the forest and our government is not a C-Span feed.