As thoughts vanish...

The other day I was cleaning up my classroom sincee the bell had rung and the day was now over. It was a Friday and it was 1:45pm... Remember that day? That feeling? Friday... minutes before school was done for the week? It was anxiety, beauty, craze, wonder, impatience, and then that bell would ring and... pure jubilation

This time I see it from another perspective and it's rather strange how five years in teaching I now begin to realize how different it feels. Yes, there are times that I feel those exact feelings and I cannot wait for the day to be over, but this year I find myself not wanting a day to end. I realize that somehow I must have either trained these children perfectly to obey OR they actually, somehow, do not why, enjoy my class... Why do I say this?

Friday... 1:45pm... Bell rings... kids stay seated working...
"Teacher, can we do this for homework?" ... "Ok, but finish copying it"

Sin relajo, 15 minutes passed and some kids were still writing porque they wanted to hand it in.

As I erased the whiteboard I thought, "Everything I have taught today, is it as easily and quickly forgotten and dismissed as I erase this board?" Are the thoughts and themes and ideas and history and stories and everything I say as swiftly put away in some far away region of the brain? Do I do these things in vain? Cuando yo salgo de esa aula con mi garganta seca de tanto hablar, con los pies doloridos de tanto caminar y pasillar por las butacas, y todas las otras cosas que yo hago... todo eso fue sin razon? No se...

Pero me asombro que tan facil fue borrar la pizarra de un tema tan abundnante como la civilización atheniense, una pizarra que fue rellenada por ideas, temas, personajes, enlaces, relaciones, etc... en menos de 10 segundos fue limpiada y dejada completamente blanca. Asi mismo ocurre cuando mis alumnos salen por la puerta? Ellos borran? Ellos se olvidan? Ellos lo toman como no importante? No sé...

Meanwhile I will continue doing what I love... teaching.

Things I Value...

No se por qué pero en mi carro en esos lonely drives home es que mi mente esta más activa.

Hoy me puse a pensar que hay cosas tan triviales que para mi son de gran importancia. Siempre he sido fanatico del cine y cuando en THE CROW EricDraven dice " Little things used to mean so much to Shelly. I used to think they were kind of trivial... believe me, nothing is trivial" eso se me quedo en la cabeza para siempre.

Nunca has pensado ese momentico cuando un/una amig@ dice por primera vez "este es mi mejor amigo" ese como que warm feeling que le entra a uno. O cuando hace poco un muy buen amigo mio ahora me dijo "i consider you a true friend" como que ese paso de ser un amigo cualquiera a un true friend. El otro dia fue hasta mas ligero cuando supe que estaba en el speed dial de uno de los panas, como que uno con quien ni hablo tanto... y pense "i'm number 5 ? el uno no coje speed dial, so i'm #4 for him?" y hasta otro pana me dijo "tienes que re-evaluar la amistad ahora"

I value the fact that I can wake up late for work, know my dad is upset, but he will still serve me my coffee when i get to the office and let me drink it. That I wake up and the breakfast is on the table and he made sure I get something to eat. That if I tell my mom now at 2:20am that I would like to eat something tomorrow at lunch it will be there.

I love it when someone says "yo valoro mucho tu opinion" it's so much different than "I respect your opinion" it means someone actually cares and listens to you.

I value a lot that a school year passes and the next year a student will come up to me and use a word I taught him or her and they'll say "See! I learned!" I value ALOT when I assign a book to be read and when I sit down to see if they read it they fight with themselves over the best parts or best characters or how the book ended. I feel I actually achieved something.

I value trust and honesty above all things. Don't lie to me, I'll know. Yes, I know... I am one of the greatest liars of all times, BUT... I've cut down and it just means I know all the tricks...

I also value when I know that I know some people SO well that I know exactly what they are saying, that I know their facial expressions even if I'm on the phone, and that I can understand everything they are feeling by just looking at them.

I value my friends, my family, and my beliefs.

The Value of Acceptance

En la vida de uno, uno se tocará con personas que quizas no te agraden, quizas no la entiendas, quizas sus ideas or forma de ser no vaya con tu ser, pero uno tiene que aprender a aceptarlas.

Existen personas que son EXCELENTES personas pero nunca han aprendido a aceptar las ideas de otros por el simple hecho que quizas vaya en contra de lo que uno piensa. Yo siempre he dicho que lo que uno debe hacer es aceptar, quizas decir "Oye, yo no pienso asi, para nada, pero si eso es lo que piensas ta cool viejo/a"... Es mas, toy casi seguro que asi es que lo digo!

Si en este mundo la gente aprendiera a aceptar las ideas de otro, a respetarlas hubieran pocos pocos pocos problemas.

So, if you meet up with someone who says something that to YOU is ridiculous, take it easy, accept it eventhough you may find it idiotic because you don't know how strong that person may feel about their opinion and how people might view you after your reactions.