~and do you remember me?~

The span of 40 years' worth of time has provided me with many teacher moments.  I've been able to see youth in 4 different states come in and go out of my classroom door each year since January of 1979.  From the Kansas prairie to the mountains of southwestern Colorado and from both the north and the south sides of the Red River in Oklahoma and Texas, there is one thing for certain.

The life that I have lived has been rich in memories and blessed more than a thousandfold.  

I have taken so many photos of school children and activities that we participated in, especially so during the last 15 years.  I always felt it was important to be able to make a pictorial diary of the days that I spent with children who called me their teacher.  Every once in a while, I come across a special picture that jars a memory inside of me and one that pulls on my teacher's heart strings as it says......

"Do you remember me?"
And the answer is that yes, I surely do.

It was some time ago and the teacher I was back then was 6 years younger.  I had never heard of towns like Olathe, Colorado or Petrolia, Texas.  You might have told me there were places called Randlett or Grandfield, Oklahoma but I'd have to say the names didn't ring a bell to me.  I was a Kansas school teacher and teaching what I thought were to be my final years in education, never once dreaming that my life would end up taking the amazing detour that it would one year after this picture was taken.

The young man shown in the photo above was a member of the 4-H group that we began at our elementary building during the 2012-2013 school year.  He had a desire to raise baby quail as part of his project for the year and so we worked out a way to make that happen.  I remember taking him after school one day to pick up the newly hatched baby chicks and bringing them back to our school on the south side of Hutchinson.  That sweet kid sat there in the back seat of my car, looking in wonder at them and listening to their constant chatter.  I laugh now as I remember his comment to me when I asked him what he thought they were saying to one another.

"I have no idea what they are saying but you know what?  I think it is going to be like a song that I get stuck in my head!"
Yeah, I know what you mean little one.  Me too!

Those tiny things, that to me resembled miniature bumble bees at first, made their home in my classroom for the better part of a week.  There was much noise and chatter that emanated from their cardboard box each day and a fair share of pooping and peeing going on as well.  Children came in and looked at them on their way to and from school, always asking me how things were going.  The young boy whose project they were came in each day to feed and water them as well as clean out their litter.  At the end of the week when they went home with him, it was with pride that he walked out the door, ready to care for them all by himself at his own house.

Tell you what.  If someone from the state department of education would have visited and questioned me on which one of the many standards written for the state of Kansas matched up with the raising of baby quail in a classroom setting, I would have had the answer quite quickly.

"There are absolutely none that match up and as a teacher, I must say to you, why is that?  How did that get left out?  Omitted?"

As a veteran teacher and a sentimental old woman, I find myself getting braver all the time in how I look at and question the validity of things in regards to my profession and the education of thousands of children who will have come under my care and tutelage before it is all done for me.  Although I know absolutely full well how extremely important the coverage and mastery of all the many standards set forth are for each grade level and the subsequent passing of state tests, I fear we are losing sight of some of the most valuable and priceless lessons that can be taught to children and those are the lessons of life. 

That sweet child learned so many wonderful things while caring for those quail.  He found out that they have to be fed and watered.  Their litter box must be cleaned each and every day.  It's important to watch out for the bullies in the box, those who won't let certain chicks eat or drink when they need to.  You have to check the heat lamp and make sure it is in the just right position so they don't get too hot or too cold and perhaps he learned the most poignant lesson of all.  

Just like all living things, baby quail die.

I remember the morning when we lost the first one and I didn't know how to break it to him.  What do you say when you count the quail each day and all of a sudden, a subtraction problem comes to mind?  That first of several died early on and I didn't know how to say it.  He just looked at me with those beautiful little eyes and told me not to worry.  He had already figured it out.  I was supposed to teach him and he ended up teaching me.

Somewhere just a few miles from here, "the 10" are sleeping soundly in their beds.  When the sun comes up they will make their way by bus and car to our school at Grandfield Elementary.  We are down to only a mere few weeks before school is dismissed for the year.  I'm nearly out of time to teach them all they need to know to be successful third graders come this fall.  Even though we have worked diligently all year long, I fear there may be a few things that we haven't covered yet and so we keep at it utilizing all the days that remain.  

When everything is said and done on the final day of school, I know that I will have taught them that which is the most important to them anyways.  The days of their youth are the best time to learn the most valuable lessons of all.

The lessons of life~