The field trip with 20 sixth graders to the nursing home was such a pleasant surprise. I knew the group that I was taking would not be any trouble, but I was unsure as to how they would react to the residents. After all, we're talking about 11-12 year olds. What I saw did my heart good. Made me have hope for the future. The only direction I gave the kids as we went in was to treat them as if they were their own grandparents, to say yes m'am and no m'am/sir, to remember that they were old but not stupid, and to speak loud enough to be heard. When it came time to leave, I found one of my Hispanic boys sitting and holding hands while listening intently to a 101 year old grandma tell him about the Christmas where she received an orange, an apple, and a few walnuts in her daddy's black stocking that was hung on the fireplace. 2 other boys were in a deep conversation with a 99 year old man about how football used to be a "real game." I wish you could've heard what these kids told the other kids when we arrived back on campus. "We had so much fun! My grandma was cool! Did she tell you about her first car?" Priceless.
I also was able to pop into Sam's class to help with the gingerbread house construction zone. WOW! Talk about a high energy activity! Totally cute. With the Christmas music blaring and the 2nd grade chatter going 90 mph, let's just say I thought teaching middle school was WILD! Wow.
2 comments:
That just made me cry Cis...that's fantastic that you guys are taking those kids to have experiences like that and they wewre so amazing and open to it. Wow. Gives me hope too. Fantastic.
That brought tears to my eyes!
Post a Comment