School Programs Are the Best

I’m pretty sure I saw the primo class program ever over at Eastlake Elementary a week or so ago.  It was called “Zoo Adventure.”

Alison’s in Miss Burdick’s kindergarten class.  The program involved a couple of peppy songs by an assortment of “animals”, some more obviously costumed than others, 

Ali, in the blue skirt, refused to come out of character

The camel, so realistic, is almost lost in the background of the Sahara

The common thread in this group seemed to be lots of energy and a little ADHD 

Loving the sixties as I did, I was proud of Ali posted so near the walrus

Then the bevy of beasts were sent to their various dioramas, obviously student-designed, where students fielded questions about their own individual animals.  

Parents and grandparents were told to put a hand on each shoulder and ask the student about his animal and received a most competent report.  If the response seemed a bit short, you’d ask, “Is there more?” and indeed there would be.  

There were five dioramas representing Africa, South America, The Arctic, the Ocean and the other one was probably North America.  I learned about wolves, sharks, gorillas, bears, lobsters, camels, turtles, foxes, rabbits, whales, deer and more.  And not just a sentence  or two.  But five or six sentences competently and clearly stated from each of the children.  It was great.

The venerable Miss Burdick claims never to have had a bad class.  I'm not surprised

Ali was a polar bear.  Polar bears usually have two cubs and are the largest bear in the world.  But did you also know star fish have no bones?  Also, when I asked, the walrus stated in absolute seriousness at the conclusion of his statement, that he was not a Beatle.  Oh, well.  

But as I said before, it was absolutely wonderful.  Not only did these kindergarteners get a chance to perform, but they learned some real specifics, got a chance to report what they knew, to speak up to adults and to feel important and knowledgeable as individuals and to be people who not only are learning but are teaching what they learn.  

No wonder Ali loves Miss Burdick.  

Evening With A General Authority - Henry B. Eyring

We saw Henry B. Eyring on Friday Night and it brought me back to my years in LDS Church Education in a way that nothing else could have.  The man is as great a joy to me and a representation of the love of God as almost as anyone could be. 

He was the Church Commissioner of Education when I joined Church Education in 1983  and I loved him instantly.  The first time I heard him talk, I believe, he was awaiting the birth of his last daughter, and his glorious, sonorous voice and beautiful choice of words, phrases, illustrations and stories always kept me amazed.  How did he do it?  When they called him into the Presiding Bishopric, I felt personally robbed.  

He spoke of thirty-three years ago at just such an “Evening with a General Authority” where he first spoke, where they walked across to the Hotel Utah for some refreshments when he knew most of the attenders.  I had been there probably twenty-eight years ago and remember the intimacy of that time.  Now, he says, there are 40,000 of us in 100 countries watching in the Tabernacle, on the Internet and on closed circuit.  Wow.

He spoke to teachers today, though we as retirees and spouses were also invited to the Tabernacle,  He said “Your students were taught in the Spirit World when others were not.”  “Qualify for and claim your gifts.”  “Always Remember his love for you.”  “I am grateful to be a teacher of the Gospel with you.”  These were the kinds of comments he made.  The Spirit absolutely filled the room.  

His focus mainly was on The Charted Course, a classic talk given by J. Reuben Clark on August 8, 1938, in Aspen Grove which we as teachers read many times in CES which encouraged us to always teach straightforwardly and directly.  It says in part:  

“The youth of the Church, your students, are in great majority sound in thought and in spirit. The problem primarily is to keep them sound, not to convert them.

      The youth of the Church are hungry for things of the Spirit; they are eager to learn the gospel, and they want it straight, undiluted.”

But President Eyring quoted it extensively which touched my heart so deeply and I must write much of that all here as well.  please read:

“In all this there are for the Church and for each and all of its members, two prime things which may not be overlooked, forgotten, shaded, or discarded:
First: That Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, the Creator of the world, the Lamb of God, the Sacrifice for the sins of the world, the Atoner for Adam's transgression; that He was crucified; that His spirit left His body; that He died; that He was laid away in the tomb; that on the third day His spirit was reunited with His body, which again became a living being; that He was raised from the tomb a resurrected being, a perfect Being, the First Fruits of the Resurrection; that He later ascended to the Father; and that because of His death and by and through His resurrection every man born into the world since the beginning will be likewise literally resurrected. This doctrine is as old as the world. Job declared: "And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." (Job 19:26, 27)
The resurrected body is a body of flesh and bones and spirit, and Job was uttering a great and everlasting truth. These positive facts, and all other facts necessarily implied therein, must all be honestly believed, in full faith, by every member of the Church.

“The second of the two things to which we must all give full faith is: That the Father and Son actually and in truth and very deed appeared to the Prophet Joseph in a vision in the woods; that other heavenly visions followed to Joseph and to others; that the Gospel and the holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God were in truth and fact restored to the earth from which they were lost by the apostasy of the Primitive Church; that the Lord again set up His Church, through the agency of Joseph Smith; that the Book of Mormon is just what it professes to be; that to the Prophet came numerous revelations for guidance, upbuilding, organization, and encouragement of the Church and its members; that the Prophet's successors, likewise called of God, have received revelations as the needs of the Church have required, and that they will continue to receive revelations as the Church and its members, living the truth they already have, shall stand in need of more; that this is in truth the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and that its foundation beliefs are the laws and principles laid down in the Articles of Faith. These facts also, and each of them, together with all things necessarily implied therein or flowing therefrom, must stand, unchanged, unmodified, without dilution, excuse, apology, or avoidance; they may not be explained away or submerged. Without these two great beliefs the Church would cease to be the Church.”

This also is my Testimony.  

Please read the entire Charted Course if you can:

http://www.schoolofabraham.com/chartedcourse.htm

Okay, So I Don't Miss Teaching As Much, But I Still Do A Little

My friend, Wendy Carroll, asked me the other day if I still missed teaching.

Truth be known, the answer is "no".  It's been more than two years.   I couldn't miss eating for that long.  (I know, I know, but I thought leaving teaching would kill me too.)

But the above picture is hilarious and makes me miss it a little more than I did yesterday.  Yes it does.

It Doesn't Take Much

When I taught at Brighton High School Seminary in the Salt Lake Valley, there was a girl there whose older 
brother had left home abruptly when he turned seventeen or eighteen never to look back.  His parents were broken-hearted, not knowing where he was or what he was doing.

One day, several years later, they saw his picture in Time Magazine in a picture of military action.

Her parents quickly got in touch with the magazine and they pursued the issue to find out where he was.

The response was from the military telling the parents the young man wanted nothing to do with them and for them to never look for him again.

I can't imagine this. They were not abusive parents, maybe a little religously zealous, but still.

I gave her the platitudes that might apply like "At least your parents have you,"   To this she replied, "That's not enough, though."

I still think about that son and how little it would take on his part, to make a difference in alot of lives.  


But then I guess it's merciful that we all don't see the damage our selfishness can cause.  Maybe not as extensive as his, for certain, but damage nonetheless.

The Ever-Increasing Flock

I couldn't believe my eyes.   On the church program yesterday, there was his name.  It had to be him.  How many names in the church could there be like his?  Not many, for sure, since his dad was a Dutch immigrant.  You've seen the Dutch names.  But anyway,  there he was in my nephew's ward.  We were visiting Craig and Lee-Ann since they were blessing their baby.

I taught this guy about fifteen years ago at Brighton High School in an LDS Seminary class.  Let me hasten to say I really did like him.  He was funny, for one thing, which always wins points with me.  But he did have ear piercings that you could see daylight through like the one to the right only not quite so huge.  And if you know what a "straight-edge" is, he was one of those.

The other kids really liked him too, I think, but they did cut him a wide berth since he was a little scary to them.

But there he was in church, with his cute wife and two little sons, saying the closing prayer, and looking smaller than I remember, I might add.  I hustled over to talk to him after the meeting and asked if he remembered me, and he did, though he said that was surprising since he didn't remember that many people from back then.  He was totally charming, too.

But I wasn't surprised to see him there.  I've seen it enough times before.  The first times were from my own high school days when kids, as goofy in their own ways as he was in his, turned things around and went on missions for the church and turned out to be great parents, adults and Sunday-go-to-meeting-Mormons.

But as a teacher, many former students were kind of disappointed when I was not too terribly surprised they turned out to be decent people too.  But it really happens far more often than it doesn't.  Sure, there are those poor souls who spend a lot of their lives wandering about aimlessly, or worse.

But most turn out to be quite commendable folks.  And I suspect that even those who do appear to be in trouble at any given time are still not dead, and it's not over till it's over.  The Good Shepherd does not lose his sheep and they were his long before they were ours.

Goodnight, Sweet Prince

I complained on Twitter from and about a funeral, today. In retrospect, I think that was really bad form but I couldn't help it. It went on and on for almost two hours. I even took a potty break. But I digress.

Ray Jones was my high school speech teacher. It's because of him I memorized the whole Old Testament chapter about Belshazzer the King and the handwriting on the wall. He never gave me a part in one of the school plays because I was a jerk and showed how nervous I was during one of my class speeches. That's when I learned the valuable lesson that "you never let them see you sweat." That has served me well my entire life.

He was a blast. A gnomish little guy who was bombastic, full of life and a man who expected a lot from us. I remember snippets of Shakespeare to this day.

He told us one day he had some sort of neurological disorder that made it so that when he brushed his teeth with his right hand, his left hand mimicked the actions. He hands did not work independently naturally, so he hooked his thumb into his beltloop for most things so keep things looking normal.

He played Charlie Brown in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" and a gang of us youthish married matrons went to see him like the high school groupies we used to be. He was gracious and kind to us after the show, giving us the full impression that he remembered us.

He never married. I talked to his sister today at his funeral and told her that we had hoped that he would fall in love with Wanda Scott who was also a teacher at Provo High School. They were great friends and did a lot of things together and we couldn't figure out why their relationship didn't have a happier ending. His sister told me that she thought that they did fall in love but that each was so concerned with caring for his/her aging parents, that they never got around to it.

Too bad you didn't know him. You would have loved him too. I wonder he's checked out heaven for Shakespeare, his hero. If not yet, it'll happen and Shakespeare will love him too.

Today I'm Teaching!!!

Today I'm teaching, today I'm teaching, today I'm teaching!!!! There's nothing more to say about today.

Remembrance of Things Past

I miss teaching. I literally dream about teaching in some form almost every night. Last night it involved a talk I gave recently about purses and personality to the Relief Society and knitting and my son, Brad in his pajamas. But I was teaching. I was at home in the classroom.

Sometimes my dreams have me teaching adults, sometimes high school kids and other times it's at LDS Business College where I taught for eight years, but usually they are lucid and do make some sense. I could sometimes regive the lessons I give in my dreams to Carl, though he would hardly appreciate it. They would be short, but they would make have some coherence. I could write a lesson plan from some of them.

I try to console myself by telling myself that it was a good run and that few people find a career they love like I loved mine. Usually, though, they just remind me how much I miss everything about teaching. I miss the students, the involvement in my lessons, my association with colleagues and with the school itself. I miss the order, the routine, the sense of duty and work to be done.

The only thing I don't miss is setting my alarm every day of my life.