I spent much of yesterday on the phone with my sister. She is in a writing class, working on getting a college degree. She is in her 60's and yet wanting to increase her options for jobs! her story was about being young, playing with our brother on our childhood farm. She wrote from her heart, a story that was full of symbolism. She didn't even know it! The fact is that she can't help but remember events that speak of her feelings, her love of that time, her loss of a time gone by and her love for the brother who has died. She didn't intend for the story to be sad but it was! She didn't intend to let people into her innermost feelings but she did! She couldn't help it!
We had a speaker present at our district Back To School Inservice last year, who shared this message, "You Teach Who You Are". His book underscored the simple fact that we can't help but have our values, beliefs, and emotions show in our everyday work. We are who we are! The point was to acknowledge it! If we are passionate about something, we inspire others to be passionate. If we are frustrated, angry, bored, disenchanted, we share that just as openly!
People, young and old, find themselves being very much like the people they are surrounded by. If the majority of the group is upbeat, you are upbeat. If the group is downtrodden, you become downtrodden. Students in our classroom do not have a choice but to model the behaviors we, as the adults, model. We, then, need to be aware of the persona we present to our public!
My sister, unintentionally presented saddness and loss while she thought she was sharing a joyful childhood activity of chasing tumbleweeds. She wrote with detail about pulling petals from beautiful wildflowers not realizing that she was infact sharing a saddness of the years that were being plucked away from her life. She explained that she was sitting in the rain. She was crying! She didn't intend for us to know but there it was!
We teach who we are! We can't help it! Be very aware!
2 comments:
The book, "What We Teach is Who We Are: The Stories of Our Lives" author is Susan Stinson. It addresses a teacher's education students methods set by others. Isn't this true in life? Always moving in a direction set by another. It's experiences, though, the reason its easy to teach who we are.
My class, Creative Non-Fiction, ia writing of life experiences. Who'd have thought any experience in life is worthy of telling as a story. Ponder a moment--the dawning of each new day begins a new story. Our surroundings, family, friends, where are we, what are we doing? Every day is something new. If we laugh, why? Tell your story.
November 21, 2008 6:12 PM
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