MLK Day more than a day off work
You would think after teaching in public schools for 12 years, I would remember the potholes that I fall in to on a regular basis. MLK Day is one of them. I see it on the calendar and think - YEAH! Monday off! I pull out my 1 poster, 2 books and 3 activities that I use to help my kindergartners know WHY they won't be coming to school!
What I forget is that as I get into the "who" and "why" of the "man," how much it stirs up in me. I don't get much farther than that famous speech where I quote to my little ones when Dr. King says, "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. " and I get all choked up.
It happened last Friday....after the quote, I begin telling my class how when I was their age, I didn't have ANY black children in my school. And if it weren't for people like Dr. King and Rosa Parks and many others that we will learn about next month when we do our month-long African-American Heritage month, I would not even today be allowed to be their teacher. And that's when the tears being choked back seeped out. Alexis raises her hand: "Ms. Herrington, you look like you's about to cry." I reply: "That's because I am....I am very grateful that I get to teach precious children like you and I never want to forget that it was in my very lifetime that changes been brought about." It is at that moment that I notice that every eye is on me and has been for the past 10-15 minutes.
We still have such a long way to go, but in my class room for this moment in time, there is a sense of unity and love among us all. And I can't help but join Dr. King in his final paragraph of that same speech:
"When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
In our little "hamlet" known as 4th Ward at my school in MY class, my goal is to help "speed up that day....Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Thank you, God, for a place to do just that!
Epilogue: At the end of the day, as we are packing up to leave, in a teasing tone of voice, I announce: Now, you BETTER NOT come to school on Monday, because I won't be here! Remember:it's a holiday!"
Ashja immediately raises both hands to the sky and cries out "Hallelujah!" We all laugh out loud and begin shouting along with her!
I am glad none of the administrators passed by...they would have thought a revival had broken out!
What I forget is that as I get into the "who" and "why" of the "man," how much it stirs up in me. I don't get much farther than that famous speech where I quote to my little ones when Dr. King says, "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. " and I get all choked up.
It happened last Friday....after the quote, I begin telling my class how when I was their age, I didn't have ANY black children in my school. And if it weren't for people like Dr. King and Rosa Parks and many others that we will learn about next month when we do our month-long African-American Heritage month, I would not even today be allowed to be their teacher. And that's when the tears being choked back seeped out. Alexis raises her hand: "Ms. Herrington, you look like you's about to cry." I reply: "That's because I am....I am very grateful that I get to teach precious children like you and I never want to forget that it was in my very lifetime that changes been brought about." It is at that moment that I notice that every eye is on me and has been for the past 10-15 minutes.
We still have such a long way to go, but in my class room for this moment in time, there is a sense of unity and love among us all. And I can't help but join Dr. King in his final paragraph of that same speech:
"When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
In our little "hamlet" known as 4th Ward at my school in MY class, my goal is to help "speed up that day....Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Thank you, God, for a place to do just that!
Epilogue: At the end of the day, as we are packing up to leave, in a teasing tone of voice, I announce: Now, you BETTER NOT come to school on Monday, because I won't be here! Remember:it's a holiday!"
Ashja immediately raises both hands to the sky and cries out "Hallelujah!" We all laugh out loud and begin shouting along with her!
I am glad none of the administrators passed by...they would have thought a revival had broken out!
posted by Betty @ 7:50 PM
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