~and it will be our acts of kindness~
My sister Sherry died in the summer of 2017 and to think that it was only 3 years ago now is almost unbelievable. It seems as if it was forever ago and yet only yesterday. I'm so thankful that she is not living now in the time of the virus. With her heart problems and COPD, it would have been impossible to have protected her enough. I would have worried every moment of the day for her.
The streets of gold are a much better place to be.
No masks, intubation, shortage of ICU beds, tears or sorrow are to be found there.
Sherry had been an Oklahoma educator for more than 40 years before she retired in 2010. She had so many ideas about different ways to teach her students. I stood in awe of her and was so thankful that I was able to have her as my mentor during my years of teaching as well. I gleaned as much practical knowledge from her as I could and utilized many of her tried and true practices with my own students. I don't remember one thing that she taught me that did not work. I'd say that's a pretty good record.
One of the greatest of teaching strategies that she showed me was the "Acts of Kindness" marble jar. Sherry told me about it several years back when I was needing a way to accentuate the good things that were happening in our classroom, rather than the "not so good" things. It was one of those years. She told me about using it with her own students and with its simplistic approach it would be an easy way to turn things around, if only I would give it a try.
She was right.
It truly did.
I loved it so much that in my last 6 years of being a teacher, I've used it with each class that I have had. I encouraged my students to find acts of kindness all around them and when they did, I would put a marble into the jar. By the way, I needn't have worried about running out of marbles because Sherry gave me her own personal stock of about a gazillion of them. I have no idea where she ever came up with that many! (As a side note, once I used the marbles in an estimation problem for math and at that time there were nearly 950 of them in all.)
We were using the marble jar in our fifth grade classroom at Liberty Elementary this year. The kids began with it from the very first day. It was easy to teach them the concept. Using good manners, helping one another out, admitting when you were wrong about something, solving problems without fighting were some of the very first things they used to fill up the jar. It was wonderful to see it at work this year.
After my current class of fifth graders got used to the idea, it was time to dig a little deeper and look for other more subtle acts of kindness. Those were the ones that weren't obvious at the time, the ones that you had to witness and then realize later just what had happened. I remember the day when the connection was made in my room and a student came up to me later and remarked about it.
It was.
School in its last weeks for the 2019-2020 school year is not going to look the same and children will be learning in different ways. Amidst all of the chaos with the current situation, I am in the final days of my teaching career. The last day of school for this year marks my retirement as an educator. Never did I think back in August of 1979 when I began my first year in the classroom that my last days in the classroom would be in the times of a pandemic. I'm trying to make the best of it that I can and I continue to teach life lessons to my students even though we are no longer able to see one another in class.
From now until the last day of class, whatever that is determined to be in our virtual situation, I'm helping my students look for acts of kindness. From the kitchen of our home here in Kay County, I am filling the marble jar for them. I want them to see and to know that there is still so much goodness in this world and that sometimes it takes a horrible thing like a virus to open our eyes to what we all are truly blessed with.
I know that if my sister were still here that she would be in the thick of kindness.
I believe, as I am sure that Sherry did, in times of trial and tribulation, it will be our acts of kindness that keep us together and help us to survive. I hope by keeping her idea of the marble jar alive, I can honor her and all the goodness she brought to others in life.
I owe her that much.
The streets of gold are a much better place to be.
No masks, intubation, shortage of ICU beds, tears or sorrow are to be found there.
Sherry had been an Oklahoma educator for more than 40 years before she retired in 2010. She had so many ideas about different ways to teach her students. I stood in awe of her and was so thankful that I was able to have her as my mentor during my years of teaching as well. I gleaned as much practical knowledge from her as I could and utilized many of her tried and true practices with my own students. I don't remember one thing that she taught me that did not work. I'd say that's a pretty good record.
One of the greatest of teaching strategies that she showed me was the "Acts of Kindness" marble jar. Sherry told me about it several years back when I was needing a way to accentuate the good things that were happening in our classroom, rather than the "not so good" things. It was one of those years. She told me about using it with her own students and with its simplistic approach it would be an easy way to turn things around, if only I would give it a try.
She was right.
It truly did.
I loved it so much that in my last 6 years of being a teacher, I've used it with each class that I have had. I encouraged my students to find acts of kindness all around them and when they did, I would put a marble into the jar. By the way, I needn't have worried about running out of marbles because Sherry gave me her own personal stock of about a gazillion of them. I have no idea where she ever came up with that many! (As a side note, once I used the marbles in an estimation problem for math and at that time there were nearly 950 of them in all.)
We were using the marble jar in our fifth grade classroom at Liberty Elementary this year. The kids began with it from the very first day. It was easy to teach them the concept. Using good manners, helping one another out, admitting when you were wrong about something, solving problems without fighting were some of the very first things they used to fill up the jar. It was wonderful to see it at work this year.
After my current class of fifth graders got used to the idea, it was time to dig a little deeper and look for other more subtle acts of kindness. Those were the ones that weren't obvious at the time, the ones that you had to witness and then realize later just what had happened. I remember the day when the connection was made in my room and a student came up to me later and remarked about it.
And that was right!"Mrs. Renfro, didn't we just do an act of kindness towards you when no one laughed when you made that mistake on the math problem? You know, it's kinda like when you never laugh at us when we make a mistake in math."
It was.
School in its last weeks for the 2019-2020 school year is not going to look the same and children will be learning in different ways. Amidst all of the chaos with the current situation, I am in the final days of my teaching career. The last day of school for this year marks my retirement as an educator. Never did I think back in August of 1979 when I began my first year in the classroom that my last days in the classroom would be in the times of a pandemic. I'm trying to make the best of it that I can and I continue to teach life lessons to my students even though we are no longer able to see one another in class.
From now until the last day of class, whatever that is determined to be in our virtual situation, I'm helping my students look for acts of kindness. From the kitchen of our home here in Kay County, I am filling the marble jar for them. I want them to see and to know that there is still so much goodness in this world and that sometimes it takes a horrible thing like a virus to open our eyes to what we all are truly blessed with.
I know that if my sister were still here that she would be in the thick of kindness.
I believe, as I am sure that Sherry did, in times of trial and tribulation, it will be our acts of kindness that keep us together and help us to survive. I hope by keeping her idea of the marble jar alive, I can honor her and all the goodness she brought to others in life.
I owe her that much.
I'm so grateful for the happy times we had together.
I miss her but I am thankful she no longer suffers.
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