What would the world look like with no technology?

That was the question for the art students in elementary school today. I was anxious to see the responses since my son and I had just had that conversation a few days ago. We talked about rotary phones and black and white TVs and being a slave to network programming.  All the world stopped on the one day a year when "Sound of Music," "Wizard of Oz," or "Cinderella" with Lesley Ann Warren came on TV. We went to the city library to look up things in the encyclopedia and Grandma taught me how to crochet, not YouTube.

The students were to draw a picture of the world without technology.  There was a picture of someone running up 11 stories to say "Hi" to their friend. One student drew a picture of himself shooting a deer for dinner and cooking it up on the fire.  Another picture featured a person writing a letter to a family member and the mailman picking it up on horseback. However, the majority of the pictures portrayed weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. "This is me crying because I have no technology." "This is me angry because I can't play video games." "This is a world, miserable, because there are no computers." I guess it was a "win" because the students realized how thankful they are for what they have, but it kind of made me want to take everyone's cell phone and computer time away.


I do want to give a shout out to the "Leader in Me" program.  It's the one with the 7 habits: 1 Be Proactive. 2. Begin with the end in mind. 3. Put first things first. 4. Think Win-Win. 5. Seek first to understand then to be understood. 6. Synergize. 7. Sharpen the saw. In class, one little boy raised his hand and informed me that the cute little girl next to him called him an "idiot." A girl sitting by him on the other side verified, "Yes. She says a lot of mean things.  She just moved here this year. She doesn't know the 'habits." Well apparently one of those habits teaches the kids not to call names and I'm all for it.

There were actually a lot of good choices in elementary art today. Okay, one boy made an airplane instead of a sketchbook, and there was a student that filled his supply box with markers, pencils and 15 erasers, (what?) and another girl drew on her face with purple, and when the first-grade teacher came to pick up her class there were about 7 children running around the room, definitely not in a quiet line, but you should see the awesome pictures stacked up and waiting for the real teacher to return and only 2 markers without lids.

Middle School...Dun, dun, dun, dun.

Middle School orchestra has been on my sub calendar for a couple of weeks. Unlike the days where I find out my job at 8:00 that morning, I had first day of school dreams all during the night before. This would be a con.  I brushed up on my music; "Rebecca, what's that little sign on the first page?" "It's for bowing. It means down."  "What note do they tune to?" "A"   More knowledge is a pro. And then I went to the place full of 12-14 yr.-olds with the verdict still out as to whether or not I would survive.

What students don't know is that they choose how nice their sub is. I'm a fun person that loves to say yes, but by the end of the day that person was nowhere to be seen. "No. I'm not letting anyone leave class to get water." "No cell phones." "No one lying on the floor. Sit in a seat." "No talking." "No breathing." "No blinking." Okay, I didn't say those last two, but no one would have been surprised if I had.

The kids started out entertaining me with their funny jokes, but by the end of the second day I just wanted them to shut their precious little mouths. It would have been better for everyone if they had gotten to play their instruments. Instead we were assigned a rhythm worksheet the first day, which was actually a solid learning activity for the 6th and 7th graders but busy work for the 8th graders, and watched a video the second day. Unfortunately, many had already seen it and preferred talking loudly to their friends.  We also had many people willing to comment often during the movie. The sad karma is that I deserved this day.  I was the student that always talked loudly to her friends. The teachers were interrupting ME. And  I constantly made smart comments during movies. (I may or may not have out-grown this.) And the teachers who didn't understand this as a normal part of life were just mean. So today I was mean.

Another thing I had not considered (I'm a little slow) is that when a teacher shows a movie to a class, that means he watches it up to 6 times in one day.  That is a lot of times. Granted, I believe in the value of repetition in learning, and the funny parts got a little funnier, but bless the teachers' hearts for sitting through that. Good thing there's plenty of policing to do to keep things exciting. Speaking of exciting, we never had time to see the end, and the video wouldn't let me fast forward, so I'm dying to find out how Beethoven's 9th symphony debut turned out.

But here are the great parts. Some girls were talking about a boy who had gotten into trouble. One girl said, "His parents don't care about him." The other said, "No they don't. He still has his phone." I was impressed with this mature observation and the expectation that a parent who cared would take away privileges . A student gave me a valentine cupcake. A girl from church stopped in to say "Hi" when she saw me from the hall. One boy got his cello out and started practicing beautifully when he finished his worksheet. A lot of students did not talk loudly or make smart comments during the movie. And the buffalo wings from the cafeteria were surprisingly delicious.

Teenagers these days are so...great, actually.

There's lots to worry about with the youth of today, they love their phones, they have too much, they spend a lot of time being entertained. But there are a lot of things to be proud of too. Did I mentioned the fifteen 9th graders who come to the early morning scripture study class that I teach every day? They are learning 25 scriptures this year. They try to have personal scripture study every day and are striving to pattern their life after the Savior.

One of my 9th grade girls plays on a team at school. The other players noticed that she never says any bad words.  They asked her about it and she explained her commitments and beliefs.  Now they try and watch their language when they are with her.

Last week we were discussing the Lord's laws of retribution, war and retaliation found in D&C 98. It involves patience, forgiveness, and a fair amount of turning the other cheek. One student commented that there is a guy at school that picks on him during PE. Another boy mentioned that there is someone at school that bullies him too. A tall, quiet, athletic boy from the other side of the room spoke up in a very protective way, "What's their name?" As I saw him shaking his head, I realized that he was a kind and loyal friend who was going to help out his seminary buddies at school.

The next day, I went to said school to substitute in health and PE.  As luck would have it, the PE teachers have lunch duty. Speaking of lunch duty, I have some opinions. My first lunch duty was a very stressful 30 minutes in the loudest place on the earth.  I walked around intimidating people with my mom look as they drank ketchup, tossed a little food around and made each other cry. (This was elementary school.)  Some of the children were polite and ate calmly and talked quietly, but it was still loud.  I've heard of a school in our district that has silent lunch. If I had heard that before I would have thought that was horrible and fought for the students' right to talk.  Now I see it as a kind gift of peace and quiet to help the students regroup before they have to meet the challenges of the day.  The other elementary school that I observed might have found the perfect formula.  They play soothing instrumental music that really seems to take the edge off of the volume.  For any school administrators who wonder what my opinion is.  I vote for soothing music and a little talking.

 Anyway, as I was walking around the high school cafeteria, impressed with how few people were drinking the condiments and the skillful way they sat on their benches, a student walked up to me with a big smile on his face. He introduced himself, "Hello, I sit with Rebecca (my daughter) and I wanted to invite you to come eat lunch with us.  I think it would be cool." How adorable is that? Of course I can't sit while on lunch duty, only walk and stand, but I went over to chat.  The students were adorable.  We told sub stories and I got some tips."One sub walked up behind a student and whispered in his ear, 'You'd better listen to me."  Gets 'em every time.

I knew it could be a potentially awkward position for my seminary students if a sub ran up to greet them with a hug and hello, (Subs aren't typically very popular) so I tried to play it cool to protect their reputation. But then one of my girls ran up to me and gave me a hug and hello. Well that made my day, she's a true friend. I observed other positive behaviors in the classroom, students shushing each other when it was time to listen, students finishing their assignments and contributing insightful comments to the discussion.

It's good to be concerned, and we need to continue to fight drugs, abuse, pornography and all the evils in the world, but know that there are some excellent people who are preparing to lead and take their place standing for truth and right. They might even be the kids drinking the ketchup.

A day in the life...Elementary PE

I had all my morning bags packed; seminary stuff, scriptures, computer, workout clothes just in case I didn't sub, and a bag with water, almonds, lunch money and book (Planning period) just in case I did. After seminary I discovered that I was to have another new life experience; elementary PE. That sounded kind of fun, I love PE. Of course my next thought was, "What am I supposed to wear? I was already wearing a carefully chosen comfortable dress and comfortable ballet flats for a day in the classroom. I couldn't wear my real workout clothes. No one should have to see those. Ask my family and the people who work at the grocery store. I ran home scanning the athletic wear and found some nice pants in my husband's pile (He loves to shop at Dick's.) I grabbed my BYU hoodie (also my husband's) and ran out the door.

I walked into the gym and introduced myself to the other PE coach. He told me about his daughter's volleyball, asked if I had watched the Superbowl, (I hadn't) confessed that he hadn't either and then said, "I have those pants." "Yeah, they're my husbands." It's a good thing I'm old or that would have been awkward. I just take it as a sign that I wore the right clothes.

Then I started learning about being a PE teacher. There are a lot of teaching styles out there and this coach used some excellent skills.  He used a gentle friendly voice but had high expectations. He gave frequent cues, praised and instructed rather than lectured and punished.  He had consequences for choices, but he conveyed a trust in the kids that they would use good strategies, be honest, use good sportsmanship, follow directions and as a result have fun. He modeled 3 classes for me and then it was my turn. I tried to use what I had learned, but it was harder than I thought.  I still sounded like a mom who was slightly exasperated.  It takes time to unlearn.

A couple of the genius techniques he used were 1. Rewarding good behavior with an opportunity to help. "I'm looking for students who have been listening, being good sports, etc. like squad 3, will you pick up the balls and put them in the yellow bins?" 2. Having cue words like "Red," That means stop, hold your balls, and sit down." 3.Solving disagreements with "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot." 4. Taking time to talk about strategy, (students share- he shares) sportsmanship, "Do we get mad if we lose? Do we brag if we win?" and honesty. And his games were fun.

Of course, where there are kids, there are humorous situations. We played a game where defenders were needed to protect the pigs from being trapped (knocked over by balls). In PE there is always great music playing. The valiant defenders took their positions, but one girl just couldn't resist the beat. She was dancing away. She had great moves and she managed to keep her pig from being trapped. I was impressed. On the other side of the gym there were 2 girls who had picked up the pigs that had been knocked down and were playing with them like Barbies. I guess we all have different levels of interest in sports.

The younger the students, the harder it is for them to understand the rules.  I was in charge of the 1st grade class. I explained the rules and then sent them out to play the game, They were running here and there and across the gym. The rules said, "Go right one hoop if you win the dice throw, and go left 1 hoop if you lose. I reminded them to just move one hoop. There was no change. Oh well, it's PE right? The more moving the better. My first graders also earned surprisingly more points than the other classes. They had kept their own scores. I'm sure it's just because they were running so much faster.

The last class of the day was Kindergarten. There was a lot of "Please don't touch the net. Don't touch the net, Please don't touch the net." One little girl needed to touch the net so bad she walked under it and wrapped it around her face. I went to tell her not to touch the net and found that she had gotten stuck. Her ponytail was stuck in one place, her bracelet in the other. Poor little thing. I wonder if she'll still want to touch the net.

One other new experience I had was cafeteria duty. Lets just say I don't view the elementary lunchroom as a healthy place.  Is it safe to be in a place that loud for 30 minutes? Just asking.

And then I went home, thankful for another chance to learn.