handwritten on April 14, 2019
Well. Today was the day I decided to get "back on the bicycle." so to speak. After five months off due to a knee injury and slowly working up to speed on the treadmill, I'm finally able to run without any pain or strain. Today was the first day running out side in a while. 3.3 miles was hard-I'm not going to lie. With time, though I know I'll fly a little easier. The hills of Pittsburgh certainly kicked me in the butt, but the freedom I felt was unexplainable.
While I was running, I was trying to equate what I was feeling to a children's book (naturally.) And I was brought back to this book my parents read to me when I was a small child. I believe the title was "The Magical Bicycle." This...
handwritten on April 13, 2019
We were lucky today. In the beautiful city of Pittsburgh there existed a blue sky and warm weather. As I pulled the shades today and peaked outside I saw joy. Today was our first day of soccer at Urban Impact and what a beautiful day it was to start!
We met our newest members of our squad ranging from kindergarten to third grade-eager to play amongst the grass and run around with one another. Smiles all around.
During our Bible Study, there happened to be one student who tends to have a difficult time controlling his anger and his behavior. Everyone knows this child by name. But even more beautiful is the fact that, no matter how many times he may be pulled out of the game or asked to sit...
handwritten on April 12, 2019
As a teacher I love analyzing different grades and children and thinking about at what age students begin recognizing this sense of self, this understanding that life is beautiful, this appreciation that they are something special with talents to offer. I could be a bit biased, but I feel like this incredible sense of self takes place in third grade. I think there is a transition where these young people realize that there is something larger than themselves, that we exist to create joy and collaborate with others and that we constantly can improve ourselves to be the person we know we are meant to be.I think it tends to cloud up in the adolscent years but then within adulthood we find this...
handwritten on April 11, 2019
This past week included many 11:30 PM coffee escapades after a late Urban Impact practice and more lesson planning and organizing for the following day in the clasroom. It included talks with kids new and old and it also included watching all of the other amazing talents that are part of our Urban Impact team.
At around 8:00, we were running the Spring Recital show one more time to get it right, and five girls came out on to the stage to perform their hip-hop style rendition of four different songs. I could not help but smile through the whole song because it was obvious that these girls could dance and even more obvious was the love these girls were spreading to their audience.
At about...
handwritten on April 10, 2019
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Today I tried out something that is a bit new for me. While discussing the book Because of Winn Dixie, our class discussed in detail how important symbolism is within literature. There is whimsy in discovering the hidden keys to a deeper door that lies underneath the words of every great work. This is one of the aspects of teaching I enjoy the most.
We decided to re-read a snippet of one of my favorite turning points within the novel. This particular turning point involves a story about the Civil War told by Miss Frannie Block who is the librarian within the story. She tells of a young boy who went off to war and essentially lost his whole family, his house and his friends. When he...
