Grateful for The Modern World

The modern world is . . . a lot.  Information overload is a real thing affecting our brains.  We don't know what the long-term effects of screen time will be on our development and eyeballs.  Deadlines seem to come faster and faster than they did before, and all the things that are labeled "conveniences" just raise the expectations of workload.  Sometimes, progress feels like more of a burden than not.

Yesterday, however, I spent the day feeling grateful for many aspects of the modern world.  I had a number of errands to run.

First, I went to the grocery store.  While I am often stunned by how little food can add up to such a high price, I was able to drive there in a car and buy a wide variety of things, many of which are not in season in my area, and I was able to put them into a refrigerator which would keep them fresh for a while.  When I cook them, I won't have to build a fire.  I will simply turn a knob on the oven.

Then, I took my car to Walgreens for a flu shot.  While I had to wait in line, I did so in an air-conditioned store.  While there was a bit of confusion about my insurance, they were able to straighten it out with a phone call while I waited in a padded chair and read a book.  I know books aren't new, but there was a time when books would have been very expensive and difficult to obtain.  I got this one delivered to my doorstep within two days of my friend, Blake, recommending it; and I paid only four dollars for it.  When they took me into the room to administer the shot, it took about five seconds and was accomplished with a sterile needle by a trained professional.  In the early days of vaccines, a man pulled up to your house with a smallpox victim in a wagon, cut the recipient's arm with a razor blade, and smeared the contents of a blister into it.  The modern world of vaccines is astounding.

My car was very far overdue for an oil change, so I headed to Take Five, where they informed me that they couldn't service my type of car, something I knew but had forgotten.  I couldn't remember the location of where I had gotten it changed the last time, so I went home and Googled my nearest Snappy Lube (Yes, I know you are thinking that if only I had a cell phone, I could have avoided the trip home, but I am comfortable with my life choices).  I found the location in moments and headed out again.  When I got there, I was told they would have to order the filter.  I braced myself for hearing that I would need to come back next week when the man said, "It will take anywhere from 1 to 2 and half hours for it to arrive."  He seemed surprised when I told him I was happy to wait.  I sat down in the air-conditioned lobby with my book and my iPod and listened to the wisdom of some Bible teachers who are able to share their thoughts from a studio in Texas, which I then downloaded to listen to at my own convenience.  The part arrived quicker than expected, and I was out of the store in just over an hour.  While things like oil changes and inspections and other care maintenance can be sometimes annoyingly inconvenient, they are far more convenient than the maintenance a horse would require, which is what I would have had a century ago.  I am grateful for the ability to own a car.

During all of this, my house was being vacuumed by my little Roomba, my dishwasher was cleaning the dishes, and my washing machine was cleaning my clothes.  These are all tasks that would have taken a lot of time and physical energy to accomplish just a few decades ago.  This weekend, without my even being present, devices made it possible for me to come home to clean dishes, clean clothes, and a clean floor.

When I got home, I realized that I needed to connect with a few colleagues about something, and I sent an email.  At the beginning of my career, this would have required either waiting until Monday when I could see them or making several phone calls.  While there are some headaches that come with email, I love that I can contact a large number of people at once and even schedule what time it sends.  And, of course, without computer technology, education would not have been possible for the past 18 months.

I am also grateful for my eyeglasses, my orthotic shoe inserts, easy-to-obtain vitamins, toothpaste, the postal service, soft drinks in aluminum cans (do you know that aluminum was once the most expensive metal in the world?), YouTube, lawnmowers, digital cameras, alarm clocks with snooze alarms, sunscreen, television, and hairdryers.

How does this relate to education?  It only relates in the sense that we live our lives in front of students.  We can model frustration when deadlines are looming or tech gets glitchy, or we can model gratitude that the tech exists in the first place and give them a perspective they do not have, that of a person who lived before and had to do all of their work manually.  We can teach them to view things from multiple angles and change their reactions based on that perspective.

When Everything Goes Wrong: The Best Camp Week Ever

I've been participating in Royal Family Kids Camp for the past fourteen years.  Last week was the best week of camp I've ever had.  I'm not the only one who feels that way.  Others have posted about it as well.  Reading that, you might think everything went according to our perfectly planned schedule.  If you think that, you would be wrong.  Many, many things went differently than we expected, but God used all of it to make a week of fun and bonding and great memories for some awesome kids.

As you can imagine, at a camp that takes place in North Carolina in July, the pool is an important part of our day.  The kids have at least one swim time each day, and on some days, there are two swim times.  At every meal, I ask kids about their favorite things.  Swimming is the most common answer.  So, when we found the pool was likely unavailable, it was a concern.  Many people had spent many hours working to repair the pool (which had apparently been leaking the year before).  The pool itself was fixed, but the repairs required digging up the concrete deck around the pool, so we couldn't get to it.  On Sunday, we believed it to be possible that the concrete would get poured on Monday, the pool inspected Tuesday morning, and that we would be back in business by Tuesday afternoon.  Then, we had a long, heavy rain on Sunday and a thunderstorm on Monday afternoon.  Concrete cannot be poured over wet ground, and it is unwise to pour it if it looks like it will be rained on before it sets; so that meant there would be no pool.  The adults were worried that this might make for a bad week, but alternate plans were made.  On Monday, the kids played water games (think your middle school field day activities), and then we rented an inflatable water slide.  The squeals and laughter coming from the kids on that slide were a sign to me that they didn't feel deprived.  

Because last year, we didn't have "real camp," we invited the kids whose last year it would have been to return this year.  That meant we had a group of graduates who were 12 and 13.  As you know, 13-year-olds don't enjoy the same things as 7-year-olds, so our director planned a sort of parallel camp schedule.  It wreaked all kinds of havoc with the schedule because we had to split the staff in ways we hadn't before.  Adding to that was the goal of keeping kids and adults in cohorts for CoVid reasons, so our poor directors kept having to schedule and reschedule where our people went.  While that was a challenge, it led to some people doing things they never had before.  I did two nights of counselor relief, an hour at bedtime when the counselors get a break and staff members spend time with their kids in the cabins.  I had never done it before because most of my work takes place in the evenings, but because of the challenging scheduling, I got to spend some sweet time giggling with delightfully creative girls who told me about their imaginary pets and sang very silly songs.  

On Tuesday, we were supposed to have a special event with the Super Skippers, a jump rope squad that teaches the kids how to do some tricks.  We have had them before, and they are amazing.  For some reason, they were unable to come.  With no time to plan an alternative, our evening activity became free-play with the birthday presents the kids received at dinner.  I took the opportunity to make one of my eleven Wal-Mart runs (no, that's not hyperbole), and when I returned, I found groups of kids and counselors playing basketball, swinging and climbing on playground equipment, playing with slinkies, and riding bikes.  Have that one hour of unscheduled time was nice for them.  All the things we plan are awesome, and too much downtime would lead to problems, but that one hour was lovely and made going to bed that night a bit easier because they weren't transitioning from a super high energy activity.

Because we are considered a compassionate charity and work with children in foster care, there are some things were are not allowed to do.  One of those is holding altar calls.  We are free to teach Bible stories and pray with kids and respond to their questions, but we are not allowed to ask them to come forward or raise their hands, etc.  Of course, that means we also tell anyone we have invited that they cannot do it either.  The magicians we invited to perform on Thursday went right up to that line, and every adult in the room was scared they were going to cross it.  While it shouldn't have happened, God still used it because the kids asked their counselors questions that led to important conversations.

I'm not sure I've ever had a week at camp where more changed from the original plan, but I also don't think I've ever had a camp week where it seemed every kid had a good experience.  That's not to say we didn't have drama and tears (We had some 13-year-old girls, remember), but at the end of the week, they went home with the experience of riding a horse for the first time or finding the items on a treasure hunt or building a wood project they could be proud of. They took home a bracelet or keychain or checkers board or hat or decorative rock or painting or fuse bead necklace or Lego project or tie-dyed pillowcase (we have a lot of crafts) they enjoyed making.  They went home with the memory of singing and dancing with people who treated them kindly and a CD and CD player so they could listen to those songs and make those memories last.  Their photo albums will serve as a touchstone to remember all of these moments and relationships when their lives are hard and they don't feel important.  They won't remember that the schedule changed or that the Super Skippers bailed.  We hope they will remember that they are loved by a group of adults who will always hold them in their hearts.  

Adaptable Planners

No one who regularly reads this or knows me will be surprised by this, but I am a planner.  Some of that was built into my DNA, but becoming a yearbook teacher is really what cemented it into my daily life.  You can't end up with a good yearbook unless you have a lot of plans laid out.  I plan lessons, units, days, and semesters.  Even during the summer, I make a to-do list for the following day before going to sleep at night.

Good plans rely on good information.  For yearbook, you need to know when and where the volleyball game will be played.  You need to know when the dress rehearsal is for the play and how many cast members there are.  For lesson planning, you need to know what supplies you have available and whether your schedule that day involves a shorter time frame or missing seniors.  

Today, I was dressed in my walking gear and was putting on my shoes to head out to church.  It's a 90-minute walk, so I have to be ready to leave between 7:20 and 7:30.  It was ten after seven when I noticed that the sky seemed a little darker than normal.  I supposed that I should perhaps look at the weather forecast, and I found that we are expecting remnants of tropical storm Claudette to be coming through this area for most of the day.  Somehow, in all of my planning, I had missed that little detail.  Now, I had to look at my other options.  Will I drive to church or watch it online?  I can accomplish the same thing in different ways, so I have to figure out which way is preferred.  

School is that way too.  No matter how good a planner you are, times will happen when you miss important details.  You forgot it was a half-day when you planned a test.  There's a pep rally you forgot would take away one section of your 8th-grade class.  You suddenly realize there isn't any salt in the lab.  You have to adapt.  Salt is an easy fix; you can run to the store quickly.  You might even find some in the teacher's lounge.  The half-day might pose a trickier problem.  Moving a test isn't always easy because it might run into other tests, so do you move it or do you shorten it to fit into a shorter testing time?  The answer to that depends on your schedule and the particular material covered on the test.  Losing one of your class sections is annoying because you either have to plan something for the other classes that is valuable but doesn't need to be made up in the other section or you are going to have to teach that one class really fast the next day to catch up.  

Here's the point I am making.  You should absolutely plan.  Flying by the seat of your pants on a daily basis is irresponsible.  But, you will suffer if you stay rigidly fixed to those plans because school is filled with plan changers.  Adaptability MUST be part of your makeup, or you will lose your mind.  After a few years of experience, this becomes easier because you know what the ultimate goals are and can keep your eye on those while figuring out a different way to achieve them.  

By the way, this is an important life skill to teach students.  We all know that no matter how long you give students to do a project, many of them will wait until the last few days and cram them in.  You can help with that by putting in checkpoints along the way; I'm not saying that they can't lie on them, but at least you are putting a structure in place that shows what adaptable planning looks like.  On any project I have that lasts longer than two weeks (I have three), I ask students to submit a timeline during the first week.  I ask them to look at their schedule and plan realistically rather than idealistically.  On each checkpoint, I ask if they are still on schedule because I want them to know that not being on the planned schedule is acceptable if there is a good reason, not just procrastination.  Life happens.  If the answer is no, I ask what their plan is for adapting to those changes.  Can they catch up, or do they need to readjust their timeline?  

The content of a project is important, but the skill of adaptive planning will remain with them throughout their lives.  Teach it.  Model it.  It matters.