Over two months have now passed since Mike and I came across a young man walking along the roadway near our home here on the Western Slopes of Colorado. Seems hard to imagine that hiker, who later became our friend, has now made it nearly to the state line of "the land of Lincoln" in the great place they call "Illinois". The day that Mike and I walked with Norman Horn the last 4.5 miles from Holly, Colorado to the state line of Kansas is a very distant, hot and humid memory now. To think of all the footsteps that Norm has taken since we said our farewell to him there is hard to imagine and my own feet kind of hurt just thinking about it. But one step at a time, heading east towards Atlantic City, New Jersey he continues on. He'll make it there by October 11th and I can only imagine the scene when he arrives. Wish I could see it myself but Montrose, Colorado is a little more than a day's drive away yet I will surely be with him in spirit. As I have said several times before as I have blogged about his progress~
"Not everyone can walk across America. Few actually do. But we can all, each of us, do something."
I've been thinking all summer long about how I might be able to bring Norm's story and his mission to school with me when the children return from their summer vacation. I wondered if there was a way that I could turn this into one huge, gigantic "teachable moment" in time. Could I present to my class of 21 first graders a challenge to follow Norman for the last 55 days of his journey? Perhaps might there be a way to learn something from all of this? It intrigued me enough that a few weeks back I began to formulate a plan, an idea of what we might do.
When school begins in earnest on Monday morning, come the 18th of next week, "the 21" shall meet Norman. It can't be in "the flesh" of course but they will hear his incredible story of a journey that has taken him straight through the country on foot. I will tell them of the good folks that he has met along the way, people who have cared enough about his welfare to be sure that he has been sheltered and fed for his daily hike. And I will tell them why he is walking and that it is for children, some of them their own ages, who have been diagnosed with cancer and need our help. Desperately. Right now, before it is too late for them.
I have met many people in life who do not believe that you should talk to children about certain things. Things like living with and dying from cancer are taboo subjects for some. There are people who believe that children cannot handle that much, that they are not old enough yet to understand. I respectfully disagree with that idea. Over the course of nearly 4 decades now in education, I have seen many times over just how wise children are. They are full of compassion and empathy for those around them, especially their own tender ages. Their little hearts are full of goodness and they want to know and understand more. They want to offer up what little help they sometimes can. We grownups need to let them and I guess that's all I have to say about it. Thanks for allowing me to tell you how I feel. It has become that important to me.
On Monday morning on that very first day back, we are going to sit down in a circle as a group. "The 21" and their teacher are going to have our very first morning meeting. It's going to be a daily ritual in our room, sacred if you will. For 15 minutes each and every Monday-Friday, we are going to discuss "life" and how we are feeling about things on any given day. We are going to learn to listen to one another, learn how to speak with one another respectfully, and make our game plan for the day. Just as an aside here, it goes for the teacher as well as for the students. At the very first morning meeting, after we have heard Norman's story, I'm going to ask the kids to brainstorm some ideas about how we can be a small part of the last 8+ weeks of Norm's hike across the country. I just know they will come up with some great ideas and I cannot wait to learn of them! Children are like that you know? They see things through the eyes of a "little one", eyes that haven't been influenced by the things that grownups now see. Come to think of it, that's an extra perk of being a first-grade teacher. Spending a school day amongst kids who think of life in a different, much less stressful kind of way. I like that idea. Very much :)
I have come up with a couple of ideas that I'd like for us to try. We have a walking path at our school, Olathe Elementary. Every day the kids are encouraged to get out there and use it. In fact, we even have a walking club day each week where kids walk with little cards that are punched off each time they make a lap. This year for our first 8 weeks, I'm going to ask the kids to considering doing an activity called "Walk A Mile In Norman's Shoes". It's a little late in the game for us to walk 3,000 miles like he will have by the journey's end. But we can walk a lap every day together during noon recess and when I say together that's what I mean because their teacher will join them for it. We will formulate a plan to convert each lap we take with one mile that Norman has walked. Sounds like a big undertaking but we are going to make it work out. By the time we are finished, we should feel a lot stronger :) Norm is a nutritionist by trade and I'm sure that he would tell the kids to remember to eat healthy foods and cut down on the amount of unhealthy snacks they partake of each day. Somehow we are going to incorporate that idea into our plan of following Norman. I've got a couple of other thoughts as to how we can help but I'm going to get the input of the kids in our room first and see what they say about it. There are so many ways to learn from this experience and I'm really excited to get started with it. You've got your math, reading, health and fitness, geography, writing skills and oh yes....the most important one as far as I'm concerned~
"The human touch~compassion and empathy for others."
If you are reading this and you are a teacher, may I extend a friendly challenge to you and your community of students? Join us in this endeavor in some way, will you? Perhaps you as well can challenge your students to do something during this next 8 week period of time that will benefit Norm's cause and allow them the opportunity to do something for others. Let me know how you feel about it. Wow, I just thought of something. If we all pool our resources together and work on it as one gigantic "Walk A Mile In Norman's Shoes" community, geesch can you imagine the impact. I see some chances to have one big "pen pal" group formulating. I like that idea already. Let me know, please?
The day is beginning here in the Rocky Mountains of south western Colorado. It's the first official day back for teachers and staff here at our school. How wonderful to return once again! For the blessing, the extreme blessing of being an educator I will always give thanks. I love children and being able to teach them what they need to know to be successful in life. My favorite lessons to teach will never be found in a lesson plan book or deep inside of a curriculum guide. Those lessons are important, don't get me wrong. The favorite lessons that are held close to this teacher's heart come from the school of life. You can be the smartest mathematician ever known, the speediest of readers around but unless your heart is good and kind, filled with compassion for others my thought is that you might be missing something. Something very important.
Have a great day everyone out there. Thinking of you all this morning and holding you close to my heart. It's kind of full in there but if we all skoosh together, there will always be room for more.
The day that I gained a whole new appreciation for what Norm does each step he takes for the kids.
Learning can happen in a variety of ways if you only are willing to look for them. "Calling all teachers!" Are you willing to join us?
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