Tornado: Part Four

Thursday was the first day we were allowed to get back into our schools.  The district had arranged for each school to have an "open house" from 10:00-12:00 so that students could return to get their personal items, return textbooks, and see their friends.  Special arrangements were worked out for the students, teachers, and staff from Briarwood and Plaza Towers elementary schools to meet at either Wayland Bonds or Eastlake elementaries.

Throughout the evening before and early Thursday morning I received a variety of questions through a couple of Facebook pages and tweet accounts I operate for school business regarding how to get to Southmoore with roads being closed.  The only way that anyone would be able to get to Southmoore would be to find some eastern or western route to get south of the school and then to travel north on Santa Fe.

Southmoore is a ALIVE and WELL

Teachers arrived at 9:00 for a local faculty meeting.  While most of us had seen each other at yesterday's district-wide faculty meeting, as well as during our school specific break-out meeting, it was still a significant time of encouragement for each other.  One of our staff members lost her son at Plaza Tower.  Seven of our teachers/staff members had their homes totally destroyed and/or significantly damaged and many others had close family members impacted.  We talked about issues with getting final grades posted, especially since the district's internet connections and phone lines were still down.  A link to use at home was provided on Wednesday but many were having issues with it; some troubleshooting ideas were shared.

Faculty meeting in Southmoore media center

Then we were dismissed to greet our students!! This time started out with me being in my classroom.  Anita, the PTSA & Band mom I discussed in "Tornado: Part Three", and her son Timothy stopped by.  I gave them each big hugs to reassure them that we were there to support them and love them.  A couple of other students stopped by in the early minutes of this "open house" time and then an announcement was made over the intercom system.  A study initiated and student led prayer circle was being held in our commons area and everyone was invited to attend.  As I was heading out of my classroom, one of my Buddhist students commented the guessed he would go to the prayer circle even though he wasn't a Christian.  I smiled and reminded him that God hears prayers from people of all faiths.  He smiled in return and you could tell this was more about embracing a sense of unity and community among the students so impacted by this horrible event than it was about promoting any form of religious dogma.

Due to the small number of students who had come by my room I was totally caught off guard by how many students had already begun circling around the commons for this prayer circle.  Teachers, staff, and parents began coming out of the hallways to join them.  Due to the size of the space and the vast quantity of people, the student who had been selected to lead the large public prayer opted to return to the office so as to speak over the intercom.  It truly was a moment about community spirit!

Since most of the students were now downstairs and in the commons, that is where I remained for the rest of the "open house" time.  I stood near a central table so that student had a centralized location for turning in textbooks even if they couldn't find their specific teacher. "Don't worry, we'll get it checked in for you".  Also, as I saw students from my specific classes I let them know that today I had a policy of "Everyone Gets a Hug", a it seemed like they all wanted one too.  You could tell that their spirits were so shaken by the events earlier in the week that this ability to see friends and teachers along with hugs and other expressions of encouragement were exactly what they needed.  And I have to admit that I needed it too.  Afterall, during the chaos of Monday I was only with one group of my students.  Today allowed me to visually see nearly all of my students so as to truly know that they were safe.

Kari, Marrisa, Lyndsey, Sarah, Mr. Burton, Hunter, & Michaela

Griffin, Daniel, Nhi, Sungwon, Bao, Mr. Burton, Peter,
Lynn, Monica, Sang, Bryan, Maddie, & Anco

An additional special moment which helped to give a sense of normalcy to being at Southmoore was when students from our band's drumline lined up on the landing of our grand staircase to perform several drum chants.  At various times throughout the year we have drumline in between Fifth and Sixth periods as a mini-pep rally before a big football or basketball game or to help encourage a team heading off to a state tournament.  Drumline today helped to show that WE ARE SOUTHMOORE and our spirit is not broken!

Drumline

To my students...

By now I'm sure that most of you have heard about the events which occurred yesterday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut.  I'm sure that like most of us, your minds are racing with all kinds of questions on a variety of social, political, religious, and possibly even economic topics which are related to the events of yesterday.  Having such questions, having emotional reactions, are natural and you should not be discouraged from having them.

My purpose in writing to you today is to let each and everyone of you know that I love you.  I value each of you as a special gift that God gave to this world and that has been entrusted into my educational care for a brief period of your life.  I may not always be happy with your performance in class, your less than stellar behavior, or the fact that you sometimes don't realize your own potential for life.  However, I will always love you.  Even if I get aggravated at times, I will always love you and I pray daily for you to obtain the best that life has to offer.

While you are under my care and watchful eye, this love for you compels me to unquestionablly seek your protection from harm.  I will do my best to make sure that while you are in school, especially within my classroom, that you are safe.  And if need be, I would even put myself in harm's way to help save you ... each of you.

So even while you think of yesterday's events, while you see the images, while you express your emotions, know that you will be as safe as I can possibly make you while you are in my care.

Also ... do your homework this weekend <wink>.  After all, APHuG has the multiple choice portion of their Unit Three Test (Cultural Geography) and APUSH has the essay portion of their Unit Six Test (Civil War and Reconstruction).

See you Monday!!

Land of Munchkins

This morning Daniel and I were invited to visit with Krida's English Language Club.  The club was divided into multiple groups and each Daniel and I were with a different group.  In my group I just allowed students the freedom to ask any questions they about me, USA, Oklahoma, or Southmoore that they wished.  I would then ask follow up connections of the students.  Such as, when asked about the most recent movie I saw at the cinema, I then had each of them tell me the last movie that they watched.  I was amazed at how many of them have seen some of the rather recent movies: Ice Age 4, The Dark Knight Rises (Batman), The Amazing Spider-Man, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, etc.  It was basically a time for the students to practice their English skills.  I also passed around the copy of Southmoore's yearbook which was given by our yearbook class.  The Krida students were fascinated by the images they saw of Southmoore students and all of their clubs, sports, and other activities.

English Language Club

This young man gave me a Batik key chain

Next we ventured down the mountain a bit to the elementary school which Krida operates: Tunas Krida Nusantara Elementary School.  This elementary school is a day school and the students do not live on campus (unless their parents work at the high school).  We visited a wide variety of classes: English classes, Religion classes, and classes of all grade levels.  I was able to give nearly every student a postcard written by the students of Briarwood and Oakridge in Moore, Oklahoma.  In the older grades, where students had better English skills, their teachers encouraged volunteers to read their card's message out loud to practice their verbal language skills.  It was so wonderful to hear these messages read and to see the expressions on the students' faces as they read the card and looked at the pictures.  They were so excited that they were also trading cards to see what the other messages contained.

Giving the principal of the elementary school a gift.
I also gave him a postcard from Mrs. Mosier at Briarwood with her school's contact information so that these students can some day send postcards back to Oklahoma.

Reading his postcard's message out loud

Even a 1st grade birthday party

Tonight Betty is taking us out for SPICY food.  I'll let you know how that comes out.

Visiting Elementary Students

During my planning period and lunch time today I had the great pleasure of going to Briarwood Elementary School and visiting with their 4th and 6th graders about my upcoming trip to Indonesia.  They were such great listeners and asked so many wonderful questions!  They and their teachers, Amy Chase and Theresa Mosier, along with Carol Schmidt and her 5th graders, are going to help write postcards for me to take to students in Indonesia this summer.

Additionally, Kerri Guarnera is coordinating another large group of 4th, 5th, and 6th students in writing postcards at Oakridge Elementary School.  I am so excited that the Briarwood Bears and the Oakridge SaberCubs (nearly all of which will eventually be Southmoore SaberCats) are helping to share the experiences of their lives in Oklahoma with students in a distant land.  Hopefully I can have some students  in Indonesia compose postcards to bring back when I return.

The pictures below are from the PowerPoint presentation I used during our time together.

Postcard Palooza

After having heard of other teachers in my TGC program who have taken messages written on postcards from their students here in the U.S. to the students in their host countries, I've decided to do the same.  One thing I've learned...it's not as easy as you'd think to find postcards.  Drug stores like Walgreen's and CVS no longer carry them, Target doesn't have them, most local gas stations (even the travel-ones like Loves) have stopped or significantly limited their supplies.  So, I give in and make the rounds to some of the local history museums knowing I'll have to pay "high dollar"...and then magic happens.  The Oklahoma History Center's gift shop had a whole display of "clearance" postcards at only TEN CENTS each.  I bought a bunch.

Following this find, I was able to confirm that two of Southmoore's "feeder" elementary schools were willing to have their elementary kids join my high school kids in writing messages about life here in Oklahoma to their peers in Indonesia.  This is awesome.  The only "hiccup" was that I need another 350 postcards.  Luckily the OHC still had plenty on clearance and I left with a car load (slight exaggeration).  So, pictured above is a sample of the cards I have.  I'm excited for these local students to join in the efforts of building bridges with students in another country.

Let the Postcard Palooza begin.  And with this process, perhaps some young minds will be interested in roaming the remote roads!