Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Season of Change!

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did I sac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:8)

By faith.

He set off and had no idea where he was going.

Let’s pause and think about that for a second: Abraham was called to a place that he would later receive as his inheritance, but he didn’t know where he was going.

He didn’t know where he was going, but he picked up all his stuff (“all the possessions he had accumulated”) and set out. Left his home; left what he knew.

What do we do when we’re faced with change? Lately, I’ve been reading a book called The Sacred Enneagram (it’s good— get it), and I’ve been thinking (I mean, really thinking) about the fact that we are all wired up uniquely. I mean, it’s ridiculous how we’re all made up of the same stuff (blood, etc.), but each one of us is this complicated ball of yarn and fabric, totally unique in our responses and theories and coping mechanisms. Just thinking about how different you and I are reinforces my belief in a Perfect Creator who put all of this stuff together, and it also humbles me— when I think about how different my response to pain is from my husband’s, this thought immediately comes to mind: “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master servants stand or fall” (Romans 14:4). You and I are so different, how could we ever judge each other? I have no idea how you were designed to work— and even if I know, who am I to say if it’s right or wrong? 

(It’s more complicated than that, I know, but you know what I mean)

So today, I’m looking at changes. Change happens all the time. Things break and get replaced. Rules and laws get amended. Politicians get elected and fired. Friends move. People pass on to glory before we do.

For me, I like change. I like new opportunities and a different view— change helps me think of new things; a change in perspective literally inspires a change in perspective for me. I grew up rearranging my bedroom when I got in trouble; Virginia Redding at Pine Street used to let me stay inside and rearrange her classroom when I felt overwhelmed (I didn’t know that about myself, but she did).

But here’s the wrench, what stresses me out: not knowing what to expect. I like change, but I like to know what the change is going to look like. I like to rearrange and reevaluate and repaint and reorganize. I like to meet new people and learn new things, but I like to know what the layout of the airplane is or what side of the hotel my room is on or where my table is going to be at a conference. I like change, but I like to know that I can escape if I need to. I like to know that I can hide if I need to. 

Basically, I guess I like to be in control of the change happening around me.

Here’s where a smiley face emoji would go.

So today, this is what I’m talking to myself about: where is the good in the change happening all around us in our community? Because there is so much good to be had. Not good because you’re glad people are retiring or getting promoted or getting married or widowed or divorced, but good because it’s good to rotate the crops and take a bath and change light bulbs and oil filters and diapers and house colors and outfits.

And when it’s organizational change, we step up and welcome the new people. For the folks in our county, we’ve said goodbye to so many dear friends in the last four or five years, but here is what I hear from the people who are wiping their hands and looking up and down the hallway at new signs over doors and new rules regarding parking lots: when do the kids get here? What new tradition are we going to try to start or carry on this year? We’ll make sure there are people who still remember when Evelyn and Ginger didn’t go outside for the fire drill that time, and we’ll laugh at seniors who still can’t find the door to the basement (do not ask us, guys— everyone is lying to you. They will never, ever tell you). 

And we will help our new principals, assistant principals, teachers, coaches, and students to be as successful as they can be. Because we love this town. Because we love Rockdale. Because we love these students. Because we know that, in a family, an individual’s success is the whole family’s success. But mostly, because we know that there is gold buried in this place. There is gold in each person-- the children and the grown-ups— who has been called to share space with us this year. 

You might not know it, so I’ll just tell you: there are treasures in Rockdale county, and if you’re here it’s because He believes you’ve got some of what it takes to help us call forth this gold. There is a calling on this third smallest county in the state. There is something special about this place. 

God has not moved. He has not changed His mind or His address. He has not changed your assignment. Every kid walking into each of our classrooms deserves to get what He called us to give. And I need to let go of sentimentality and fear and embrace this new season and the victories that are before us. And if I need to wear a name tag bigger than a name badge all year to make sure that we get to know each other like family, I’ll do it. My job is to help the newbies WIN. My job is to help my new principal WIN— to succeed in outrageous ways. I want to inspire our new superintendent to be so grateful to have arrived in this county that he actually cries at night before he goes to sleep. 

We are being called out upon the water, Rockdale county teachers, parents, business owners, students, administrators, baristas, ministers, lawyers, judges, secretaries, landscapers, builders, coaches. We have been given charge of future versions of ourselves. They need our whole hearts.


We are being called UP to greatness. Let’s resist the fear of change and embrace the possibility of greatness. We have been given the honor to call forth the gold in the children in our community. Let’s not be distracted from that tremendous calling. Let’s lock arms and call it forth.

Saturday, June 16, 2018

New Season: Writing & Editing

Hi all!

The summer of writing has begun! Thank you for your notes and TRAFFIC! I will update you here periodically, but for now all past content is being edited! Please email me with any questions!

Sam

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

first, they gotta have a vision

So, everybody's talking about school lately.

I almost hashtagged school.

#school

And I verbed a noun. Hashtagged.

I've been thinking about school and thinking  about my students and about their parents, and about all of my nieces, and the children of my friends, and I wonder how you guys let them walk up and down stairs without worrying about them, much less actually let them get on big yellow buses in the morning to spend whole days out of your sight.

I'm serious-- there was a period of days a while back when I would lie in bed at night and pray for my nieces and I kept having this recurring image of them walking carefully down the stairs in their homes (whatever happened to ranch homes, Nathan and Lucy, and Diane and Duke?? You guys couldn't get sprawling compounds somewhere?). I prayed for those girls about those steps for days.

Anyway, school.

I've been thinking, as teachers do, about how to help my students become more successful. But the way I'm thinking about their success has more to do with how to help THEM become more successful rather than how successful *I* do as a teacher. Always, there are things I can do to improve my practice, but part of this season's improvement on my part is figuring out how to help them improve their part. Maybe it springs from my teacher's heart as a believer, but I don't think it helps my students to tell them everything. I think that the things they will remember the longest and the purest are the things that they discover  on their own.

Like page numbers.

I kid you not-- I need to ask my old English teachers, but these guys refuse to look up chapters in a book. They also tend to want someone to call out dictionary pages. If someone asks, "Swaney, what page is this story on?" I will tell them without fail to look it up. Well, unless I'm in a hurry. Okay, sometimes I tell them the page number, but you know what I'm saying.

So they're here and they look at us with these eyes and they trust us. Man, it levels me when I think of all of the unmerited trust these guys have for us when they first meet us-- first day of school and they don't even know me, but they look at me with hands folded and eyes open and listening for where I want them to write their names and the date and do I want them to write the name of the assignment? Trust. I'm the expert. I could tell them virtually anything and they give me the benefit of the doubt.

Like, once I told my kids that back in the day, we used to have stationary bikes in ISS (in school suspension) and if you were sent to ISS you had to take a shift on the bike. I told them that this was how we powered the school until they (who is "they"??) finally hooked us into  the grid from Atlanta.

Anyway, I've been thinking  about how to help them become more proactive. They come equipped with brains to learn. They are born with them and they show up in my classroom with them. They are hard-wired for it. Learning makes  you feel good. There are all kinds of factors (learning disabilities, etc.) that get in the way sometimes, but their brains still respond to learning in a positive way-- it's science, I tell them.

Sometimes, we have to get past the quarterback in their minds that stands at the door and threatens to throat punch any new attempts at information. This guy stands on their noses and yells back at them "YOU CAN'T DO THIS!!! IT HURTS!!!! IT'S HARD!!!! LET'S EAT ICE CREAM!!!"

That same guy plays on a couple of teams in my own brain, too.

So here's where I'm at-- there's a verse that says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Proverbs 29: 17). Without a purpose, without a direction (a vision-- a plan), people aren't sure which direction to start walking, or which book to read first, or which choice to make in regard to...almost anything.

And now we're talking about purpose.

Telling a student that he'll be glad he has a diploma one day isn't inspiring. Even discussing his game plan for [insert name of Ivy League school here] doesn't present enough of a sense of "YAHOOOOO" to really make anyone work consistently for their goal.

Purpose "is closely linked to ‘flow’ - the state of intense absorption in which we forget our surroundings and ourselves. If you have a strong sense of purpose, you’re likely to experience flow more frequently. And as Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi has shown, flow is a powerful source of well-being. The more flow we experience, the happier we feel" (Psychology Today).

So, today is March 20 and I have been thinking about the brain and happiness and purpose and vision and flow in an intentional way for about six months now.

And suddenly, because of school shootings (another this morning in Maryland), the world is starting to notice that our students are unhappy. And scared. And lonely. And being mean as crud to each other. Welcome to what teachers and parents and students already know.

For me, I think I'm on the brink of finding a solution. And it has everything to do with the way the Creator made our brains.

First, they gotta have vision.