I need to take fifteen minutes tonight to write, and take myself right up to eleven o’ clock. I have had so many ideas to write about in the weeks since my last post, including just talking about my different students, giving some of the similarities and differences of Eagle Butte versus the other places I have lived, or of college life versus post-college life, just ranting about the general frustrations that accompany this life of mine, and I don’t even remember what else!
For now, for the sake of my readers and myself, I will just talk about some of my students, not necessarily my favorites, since I’m trying not to have those, but some that make me particularly happy. I know schools these days are pretty sensitive about what personal information belonging to their students ends up on the web, so I’ll try to be careful.
My first kudos must, must go to my little mothers and mothers-to-be. They are the best workers you’ve ever seen. They range from freshmen to seniors, and nearly every one of them is trucking through her work as if she were going to be in labor or be home with her sick toddler the next day. One of them just had a baby girl last week. The issue of teen pregnancy is an interesting one for us teachers to deal with—while we are all of slightly different moral opinions on the topic of extra-marital sex, we all agree on the practical standpoint that teenage sex is never a good idea. Many of our girls do, too, but they are caught in a lifestyle that they can’t get out of. My rockstar mommy, who finished nearly all of her junior year English in one quarter, just wrote her persuasive essay about teenage girls waiting for babies and sex until after high school. The lady who hosts the Bible study I go to on Sundays has volunteered to make baby blankets for all our new babies this year, and I’m really excited for that.
I also teach the Fine Arts elective, and I am providing an alternative to working on the textbook and packets: we are writing a newsletter and producing our own yearbook! I have a few senior girls who are very excited about it, and I can’t wait for our first issue to come out in a few weeks. One of the girls who typically has very low motivation in school is especially taking ownership of it, and every time she sees me she tells me about a new idea or something new that someone is going to write.
There are also a few of my big boys that really make me smile—yeah, I admit, it’s because they remind me of my football and CW boys. Most of them have really dirty mouths and are kind of embarrassing sometimes, but they are hilarious and really fun when they are interested in working with you. I’ve got two guys in particular who have a really hard time with reading, but when they sit and work with me they catch on just fine and can get a few of their questions answered.
I do also have a few kids with pretty strong reputations in the community for things I would rather not know about. Two of my smartest seniors are pretty high up in the local gang and drug hierarchies, and I occasionally wonder at the contradiction, but from their points of view, it probably makes total sense to stay with the sweet deals they have. I just hope that this part of their lives does not interfere with thoughts about college, but it might. Again, it might be hard to convince yourself to work your tail off in college if you have a nice racket going in your hometown.
Then there’s my junior high, who are another story entirely. One of my eighth grade students is cognitively delayed and has typically been ignored in school in the past, and so has hated it. I am learning new things about him every day, but he is definitely a fine kid and can learn. I grinned from ear-to-ear when his mom told me at parent-teacher conferences (when he wasn’t around) that he has been excited to go to school this year, for the first time ever. I definitely feel like I lose him sometimes in English, but I’m praying every day that he hangs in there and that I can find new ways to keep him engaged.
I have a definite soft spot for one of my seventh graders as well. He has had a tough time of it in school as well, and gives up quickly when he doesn’t understand something. Some concepts seem to be especially difficult for him to grasp, but I see so many flashes of deep intelligence in him that it is boggling to think that he sees himself as stupid. The book that we read in seventh grade for the first quarter was The Outsiders, which is a fantastic book about social groups and gang violence, and this kid practically ate it up. He said in his book report that it was the best book he had ever read, and it is very timely for him, because he is just starting to get sucked into one of the gangs, and I pray that it is making him think. If I have accomplished nothing else during the first quarter, I know that I have helped my seventh graders to really understand the deeper meaning of their novel.
Alrighty, my assignment for tonight before I go to bed is to finish this post up! There are actually many more kids I could talk about, and I’m sure many of them will come into later posts, but those are at least a few groups that particularly pull at my heart strings! I think part of the thing that kept me posting in Ecuador was all the cool pictures I took, and since I have barely taken any pictures in Eagle Butte, I know these posts might not be quite as exciting. However, it is still my life, and probably in a more real way than Ecuador was, because I really think I’ll be here for a bit.
God is meeting my needs with His care and His new mercies. I have not experienced or felt anything here that I might not have expected given what I knew at the beginning, and most importantly, I have not experienced or felt anything here that God has not spoken of. When I was in college one of my friends was going through a rough time for a while, and when we would chat she would sometimes just raise her eyebrow at me and say, “I guess the Bible probably says something about this, doesn’t it?” Now I have to do that for myself a lot, and I am having to search out and find God in Eagle Butte. I had to do the same thing when I first moved to Morris to go to UMM, so I know that He will show up in millions of ways. Right now I’m just in the waiting period, but sans facebook this time, which makes it harder and easier at the same time to be in friend withdrawal. Letters and phone calls are very much welcomed!
Speaking of Morris, though, I actually did end up becoming quite attached to the blessed little place, and now that I live in a town less than one fifth the size I shake my head at how little it used to seem. : ) I was able to go to Homecoming at my alma mater, though I had to drive through an ice storm and sit through a cold football game that we lost! Here is my lovely car. Yes, Morris and inhabitants, that's how much I love you!
I’ve had two teachers over to my place this week, actually, which has been lovely. Barb had supper with me yesterday and Karen came over for tea today so that we could conference about our peer analysis observations for professional development. A few weeks ago I also had the honor of serving lunch to George and Sharon Gardner, my Moorhead “parents” that I lived with for a few months earlier this year. They were on their way back from visiting their son Philip in Rapid City, and I was so pleased that they chose to take their lunch break at my place! It made me try out my George Foreman to grill chicken, which was exciting.
I also just started practicing with a group in Dupree for the Christmas cantata that Dupree and two other towns have joined together in for the last several years. I really miss singing, so this will be a treat! Last week practice in Dupree consisted of only Dupree’s music teacher and me, but this week we are carpooling up to Isabel for a combined practice, so I will meet more of the people involved! Practice is shortly after Bible study on Sunday afternoons, so it is just perfect, and makes me get my lesson planning done before Sunday night! This is a very good thing.
There are still so many more things I would like to say and so many more things I probably need to talk about, but I will close for now so that I can finally publish another entry, and so that I can head home and go to bed. And so, good night, my darling readers! Let me know if there is anything I can pray for! Besides the same old prayer for my sanity, for protection, for love, for openness from my students, and such, pray for Dan from my church back home. He had a minor heart attack recently, and now he is doing quite well after an angioplasty and a stent, but pray for continued healing and health. Please also pray that my eyes would be opened to God’s work here, just like the eyes of Elisha’s servant when he wasn’t able to see the army of angels backing them up against their enemies. I know He’s here, but I really need to see Him! I love you all! Christina Joy
