A few months ago, I had the pleasure of visiting my friend Ms Grindrod's classroom to talk with the kids in her kindergarten class about being a veterinarian. I always love doing it. The kids are into it. Animals are cool! And the teachers are into it. Which is really cool. I liked that Ms Grindrod got the kids all involved. We had a good time!
Today I was invited to Ms Jackson's second grade class at Lapham. She had worked with her class to learn about important things like animal overpopulation, what veterinarians do, what pet ownership is really all about, puppy mills, etc. The kids even made their own "vet bags" which they all proudly displayed. The teacher had prepared a veterinary examination sheet which frankly rivaled what we actually use in Vet School.(I took the exam sheet back to the show to some of my vet friends at the School and they were impressed) And even more impressively to me, the kids had raised almost $600 for the Dane County Humane Society. The kids got a tour and a chance to hand over the donations they'd collected. Ms Jackson had the kids hand over the money as individuals, so they would get individual credit, which I thought was cool.
They asked a lot of good questions. I passed around some items of interest that I'd collected from Dick, my boss at the Vet School. I had a lot of fun.
And most importantly, what I realized after visiting these two classrooms, is that teachers like these will NOT ALLOW a child to BE left behind. They impressed me by the way they passionately challenge their students. Teachers that do that change lives. For the better.
The hateful little hollow man in the oval office doesn't get this. He never will. But more and more people do. These visits have given me some hope.
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4 comments:
Thank you, Chuck. I love what I do, and I would probably keep doing it regardless, but it feels really good when people notice. I feel like my class slacked off though; WE didn't raise $600 for the Humane Society. Next time. Did each child get a sheep's eyeball? (That reminds me of a recipe that I got in the Nanny Ogg cookbook.)
Hey, Suzy, it's not what you do in the classroom, specifically, but how you do it! It's about being passionate about life and being present, truly present, with the kids.
They liked the things I brought, but Dick wanted them back. I have to know, though, what IS the Nanny Ogg cookbook?
Well, have you encountered Nanny Ogg yet? You will, when you get into the witches strand of TP. My favorite recipe is the Librarian's recipe for bananas: "Ook." (translation: Take one banana.)
Seriously, it pleases me immensely that people like you notice the difference in my classroom.
Boy, was I ever a grouch today though.
You, a grouch!?
What happened: did you take a class trip to Borders, did the kids get you to read Harry Potter or did they just tell you how much the all love Joe Lieberman??
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