11.03.09
blue blocks
I enjoy teaching kids with autism. I enjoy figuring out how their minds work, how they tick, and how to teach them.
Teaching kids with autism really affects my speech and behavior as a teacher.
These are the things I find myself saying on a regular basis:
“Don’t put this in your mouth.”
“What’s going on in your world right now?”
“Come back to my world!”
“It is never okay to lick people.”
“Whoa, too close!”
“Take that out of your mouth!”
“Why did you call her ‘lumpy pizza pants?’”
“If you find it on the ground, it doesn’t belong in your mouth.”
“Look at my nose when I am talking to you.”
One of my favorite things is the mathematical mind that one of my students has. He sees the world in patterns. If we are using tiles or blocks, I cannot give him a mix of colors because instead of doing the assignment, he will build elaborate patterns.
Last week I forgot and gave him multicolored blocks, so instead of building arrays, he was patterning. I switched his blocks with other students’ blocks until he only had blue. He threw a fit the whole time.
But ever since then, he has been begging me to play with them. I knew it would all be okay.
Today, he looked up at me and said with the sweetest sincerity, “Ms. Moore, I love my blue blocks.”
It was like he was talking about his very most precious posession in the whole world. I’m surprised a single tear didn’t fall down his cheek.
“Ms. Moore, I love my blue blocks.” Those are the moments that make my day.
10.28.09
Renaissance Festival
Today my class took a field trip to the Renaissance Festival! “School Days” at the Renaissance Festival are fun and non-sketchy. It was a lot of fun and now I am exhausted.
Don’t tell anyone that I posted school photos on my blog. I don’t want to go to special ed jail. Okay, thanks.
We saw a hip-hop version of Romeo and Juliet.
We met beautiful Renaissance ladies.
We learned about birds of prey.
We ate Polish food!
We ate turkey legs – every last bite!
We watched this guy play in (and EAT) mud. My boys loved it!
We cheered for the jousting competition.
We watched this lady spin wool into yarn.
We saw men minting coins.
And despite the looks of this abysmal attempt at a class picture, we did have fun!
10.01.09
funny things kids say
In desperation to make me angry enough to kick him out of class, a student yelled, “I’m not doing this!” as he tore an assignment in half and threw it in the trashcan. I just ignored him.
10 minutes later, “How’s your paper coming?”
“Nothing!”
“Oh, well, get busy please!”
“I threw it in the trashcan.”
“Oh, okay, can I see it?”
He got it out of the trashcan and brought it over, “See?? I tore it up!”
“Oh, I have some tape.” I fixed it. “Okay, great. Now go finish it.”
He works on it, finishes it, class ends, and I ask to speak with him privately.
“When you tore up your assignment and threw it in the trashcan, was that a respectful thing to do?”
“No.”
“So I am going to call your mom and let her know.”
“But you can’t call her, the phone’s cut off.” (Untrue.)
“That’s okay, I’ll call her anyway.”
“Oh, no I can just tell her.”
“Okay, great, we can both tell her then.”
“But I’m gonna get in trouble!”
“Well, maybe it will help you remember next time not to throw your assignments in the trashcan.”
“But I didn’t know!”
“Didn’t know what?”
“That you didn’t want me to throw it away!”
“What?”
“But I thought you wanted me to throw it away!”
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Someone else, after completing an assignment:
“I am done! D-u-…whatever…”
09.29.09
ashes to ashes, dust to dust, bowl to bowl
Rico the fish, age 2 months, passed away Monday in Ms. Moore’s Resource classroom. Services were held Monday at 12:00pm in the faculty restroom. Rico was adopted from the College Station Wal-Mart in mid-August 2009 and lived out the rest of his days in a classroom in Grimes County, TX. He enjoyed listening to the morning announcements, rolling his r’s, and watching Hannah Montana. He was a caring friend and a great listener. He is survived by Moore, her two Instructional Assistants, three 4th grade students, eight 5th grade students, two custodians, and countless other loved ones. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Animal Savers Club would be greatly appreciated.
09.26.09
a story
He was frustrated with me and so antsy he was about to jump out of his skin.
I was frustrated with him and using every ounce of self-control not to lose my temper.
Tensions were high. Everybody felt it. Things were about to go south any second.
“Ms. Moore, there’s a cricket under the cabinets,” she whispered.
My initial reaction was to get even more frustrated. I find crickets in my room every day, and can’t seem to get rid of them. But then I got an idea. He needed to get out of his seat. I needed him to take his mind off of the assignment that was making him so frustrated.
“Oh no!” I screamed. “Can anyone come kill this cricket????”
He immediately ran over, as the frustration on his face gave way to joy. “Don’t kill it! Crickets be good luck!”
He spent the next five minutes chasing the cricket around the corner trying to catch him in his eager little hands.
We walked outside to let the cricket go free. But when he opened his hand, the cricket just sat there.
“It doesn’t want to leave. It must like you.”
He smiled.
He shook it off, and we walked back inside.
The tension was gone.
He happily finished his work, and I happily taught the rest of the lesson.
When I was at the end of my rope, Jesus met me there with a cricket.
Thank you, Lord, for crickets!
09.02.09
school
People keep asking me, “How is school going?” which is actually quite a complicated question for me due to the volume of school in which I participate. So here’s the long answer:
School has been a lot of fun so far this year! It is so easy – I already know 7 of my 11 kids because I had them last year, and the new ones are pretty low maintenance. I have the big picture of the curriculum in my mind, and already have lessons written from last year that I can use again. I am way more organized because I spent the last two weeks of school last year prepping for this year. I am so glad that I did!
Also, I just printed pictures of my students (which I wish I could post here, but since I can’t you’ll just have to see them in person!) and realized that I have a really cute-looking group of kids! I just love them. I am especially attached to the kids I had last year, and feel really blessed to get my students two years in a row. AND, my kids from last year who moved up to the Junior High for this year all have Amanda (my carpool friend) as their math teacher this year, so I still hear from & about them.
Yes, the fish is named Rico and I may or may not have added more than a few votes into the mix to make it happen. You’ll never know.
I am going to be our campus UIL coordinator this year. I don’t even know what UIL stands for, and I wasn’t involved with UIL last year, so I am pretty much a UIL idiot. But I have a meeting about it tomorrow, so maybe I’ll learn something. My reasons for taking on this position are 3-fold. 1) There is a pretty nice stipend, and I unexpectedly had to purchase a new laptop for seminary that really set me back; 2) the teacher who had this position last year took a job at central office, and teacher who took her position didn’t want to do it; 3) The position is basically organizing people, and you know how I feel about organizing.
The other school in my life, seminary, is going full-force. Lots of reading, writing, and deep thinking. Right now I am taking a class about church planting which is proving to be very thought-provoking. I just finished the first book, about which I had mixed feelings. I might share some random deep thoughts on that later, but I haven’t had enough time to process it all yet, so we’ll see. Later this semester I will take Systematic Theology 1. I’m a little terrified about that one, so I try not to think about it.
The other other school in my life (kind of), Sunday school (except we don’t call it that), will really begin next week. My friends Wesley, Geoff, and I will be leading the break-out group for college freshmen. I am excited about this – a new area of ministry for me that will hopefully give way to another ministry next year, which I have mentioned before in the most vague of terms, and am not yet ready to reveal…
How is school going for YOU?
08.27.09
class pet, part 2
Last year my class had a pet. You can read about him here and here.
At the end of the year I gave him to a student who had an affinity for animals, whom you can read about here.
This year, we have a new class pet!
On Wednesday they brainstormed names for this little guy. Here is the short list:
Nemo
Apple
Nutcracker
Peppermint
Chocolate
Dragon
Longtail
Flame
Bigfoot
Reaper
Jason
Fred
Scooby-doo
Jordan
Redfish
Toodles
Ladybug
Ketchup
Germ-X
Stewie
Steve
Bobby Lashley
John
Hannah Montana
Silver
Rico
Justin
Fur
Prettyfish
So we narrowed it down to our two favorite: Dragon and Rico. Today we voted…tomorrow we will reveal the winner!
But I have to be honest. His name is going to be Rico. I mean, Dragon is great and all, but Rico is clearly superior. Excuse me, I have to go stuff the ballot box…
03.28.09
classroom conversations
A student was sitting in my room eating breakfast.
He looked up at me and said, “When is Barack Obama coming here?”
I told him that I didn’t think that was going to happen any time soon.
Then he asked, quite seriously, “Is Obama real?”
Haha…I assured him that yes, Obama is real and asked him, “Who is Obama?” just because I was curious about what his answer might be.
“The first president of the United States.”
Well…..no…
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My assistant principal came in and was speaking privately to me, out of earshot of my kids.
AP: “Did you see the TAKS scores yet?”
me: “No, do you have them?”
AP: “Yes, you should come by my office sometime to see them.”
me: “Okay.”
AP (as she is leaving, she says loud enough for the class to hear): “Because there is a surprise!”
student: (VERY excitedly) “Is it a horse???”
me: “Well, I HOPE it’s a horse!”
TAKS people should start sending a surprise horse with the test results. That would be great! Maybe someday…
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student that I don’t know: “Miss, do you have any lotion?”
me: “Yeah, come on in and get some.”
student: “My legs so ashy, I look like Peter White!”
me: “Who?”
student: “Peter White. Peter Pan. Peter White.”
What???
03.12.09
Leaning back, swinging forward…
This week has been a doozy. Lots of things to process. Re-realizing that my kids’ lives are sad and hard. Time spent praying for my kids. Praising the Lord for my job that IS ministry.
When you swing, you have to lean back in order to swing forward. Without first leaning back, you would just be sitting still. It is kind of like life. Looking back propels me to continue forward. Remembering God’s faithfulness in the past compels me to believe that His faithfulness will continue. Because I lean back, I will swing forward.
I look back on the year so far with my kids and see how God has pursued them. And I am confident that He will continue to do so, even during dark times.
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Last year before Spring Break I was scared. I was going on a servant evangelism trip. I was scared, but God moved in my heart. For some reason I thought it was unnatural or offensive to talk about my relationship with Jesus. That is crazy! Athletes talk about sports, musicians talk about music, journalists talk about current events…so it is only natural for Christians to talk about Jesus!
Leaning back, I see how Jesus changed my heart towards evangelism. Now I swing forward…
Tomorrow Spring Break begins, and I am excited! I am returning to Panama City Beach to serve spring-breakers.
Eating out for every meal for a whole week is expensive, especially for college students. We will host free pancake breakfasts every morning and midnight.
Driving drunk, riding with strangers, catching expensive taxis, or walking along busy roads are the only transportation options. We will give free van rides from 9pm until 2am.
People will be abandoned by their friends, cheated on, stolen from, and feel generally down until they drink away their sorrows. Last year I asked many people, “So, has this break been really fun or more stressful?” The unanimous answer was, “STRESSFUL!” We will have a room full of people dedicated to praying for spring breakers.
People who have been deceived into thinking their good works will save them will be soul-searching. People who have been deceived into thinking they can never be good enough will be soul-searching. We will be speaking the Truth in love. Only Jesus saves!
Last year a young man came to know the Lord in our van. Lots of others heard the truth that Jesus saves them. One guy told my teammate, “That is the clearest picture of salvation that I have ever heard.” Another guy understood for the first time that it is not about “how many spiritual things you do every day”, but about the relationship you have with the One who saves. Last year God moved in my heart. This year, I return in confidence that God will continue to refine me.
Pray for me!
- For a heart of service, not self-promotion
- For boldness to speak the Gospel
- For those who hear, that their hearts will be open
- For the safety of the people in the van I will be DRIVING (Yes, they asked me to be a driver. And I said yes. Scary, I know.)
- For my nerves as I drive a huge-mongous vehicle
- For me to stand up under spiritual attacks and persecution
- For our team to be united in Christ
You can even follow along with us each night here. The people who work the command center coordinate with people in the prayer room to post specific prayer requests for specific individuals as they are happening each night. Technology is neat.
I have to bring my laptop because my next seminary class begins on Monday, so I have some work I will be doing during the day (when I am not playing on the beach or napping, of course), so I might get to post an update during the week.
If not…see you in a week or so!
03.03.09
I’m baaaack!
And I have lots of posts in my head just waiting to jump out if only I can find the time!
But today…this just couldn’t wait.
Today was TAKS test day at school, which could have been easy to gripe about, but instead turned out to be a great day!
I have a final to take tomorrow, for which I am VERY behind in reading, so after my students had finished the test and they could only read or sleep, I got lots of reading done.
After a few hours, I let them do a few more quiet things like paint or draw or work a puzzle, etc.
One of my kids has quite a back story that I won’t share here, but suffice it to say, his life is sad and hard, and as a result he is very shy and angry. I have spent lots of time praying for and crying over this kid. He came over to my desk and asked what I was reading…well, I’ll just copy the conversation here, his words in italics:
What are you doing?
I’m studying for my test.
What book is that?
It’s about the Bible. Have you ever read the Bible?
No.
Do you go to church?
No.
Have you ever been to church?
Yes.
What did you learn there?
I don’t know.
Did you learn about Jesus?
Yes.
What did you learn about him?
That they killed him.
Do you know why that happened?
No.
Can I tell you?
Okay.
Put out your hands.
(He put out his hands, palm side up.)
Did you know that God is perfect? He is so perfect He can’t even be around anything that is bad. In the Bible it says that every single person has done bad stuff. I have. You have. The Bible calls bad stuff that people do “sin”.
(I put my hand over his right hand.)
When God sees you, you are covered in sin, just like my hand is covering your hand. So God can’t be with you. But He loves you, so He made a way. He sent Jesus. Jesus was a person, but he was also God. And he never ever did anything bad. He never sinned. He was perfect.
(I put my other hand over his left hand.)
When God sees Jesus, he is covered in perfection, just like my hand is covering your hand. But guess what? When Jesus died, this happened.
(I swapped the position of my two hands.)
So Jesus was covered with your sin, and you can be covered with Jesus’ perfection. And all you have to do is ask God to see your sin on Jesus, and Jesus’ perfection on you, and (snap!) it’s done! So then God can be with you, and He comes and lives inside of you, and promises that you will be together forever and ever. Have you ever asked God to do that?
No.
I have. I sinned a lot. But I talked to God and said, “God, I am covered in sin. When you look at me instead of seeing my sin, will you see Jesus’ perfection?” And guess what? He does! And you can tell that to God anytime you want.
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The rest of the day, I would look up and catch him looking at me with a spark in his eye and a smile playing on his lips. There would be a moment of mutual understanding, and then he would glance away. Something is cooking in that little heart of his.
The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
