Bird Droppings May 12, 2011
Finding answers in life

Yesterday I was asked a simple question. I am too take several tests and they decide my life which should I take? Should I take test A or B. If I take A then my life will go this direction if I take B it will go this way. As I thought this morning if only life was so simple. A student was working on a research paper in my room and it seems with the end of the year and computers in short supply and End of Course testing on computers there are only so many computers and everyone is doing end of year papers. I have seven computers in my room when I have a room full all are used but yesterday and recently fourth period I have a few open.
This little girl stated first thing before she started her paper that she has ADHD. I think this was more a shock me than anything. My students sort of smiled and then I responded and so. “Well it’s hard for me to focus” As nice as I could, I explained in most classrooms that would be significant but you picked the wrong one. She looked at me and said but I have an SST and I am a tier three on the Pyramid of intervention and I am allowed extra time in my modifications. Very quickly I said and so, I really didn’t have the heart to say child everybody in this room has ADHD plus probably including me and you better focus on your paper.
So I asked her what are your parameters for this paper. She had to write a two page paper, ok what else and or it has to have one hundred words. It seems twenty three years of publishing have to pay off somewhere and I looked over her notes and writing and showed her how to format the paper. I suggested using Courier New as her font. Quickly she told me that it was not cute enough and so we began. So she typed away in Comic Sans or some other cute font and after a paragraph of her font I showed her why Courier New is better, her half page or so went to a page of type in 12 point. She was amazed and asked how did that happen? So as usual I came upon a teachable moment and maybe vocabulary as well.
I explained kerning the spacing and shape of letters and Courier happens to take up more space without appearing to and is acceptable in most papers often even recommended as an option Times New Roman or Courier New 12 point double spaced. So after several days the two page paper is done and a smiling little girl says “this is the best paper I ever did thank you” and so we shall see.

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years” Abraham Lincoln

A student finds in simply a few days that she can do a bit more by being shown and then giving her words contextual and relevant significance. Perhaps it was working in an environment that rather than being alien and fighting her disability embraces and functions with her. Looking back to asking which test to take and where do we want to go. So many questions and always more answers and it is the finding that the place where we can excel given our own disabilities whatever they are can be found.

“Life is rather like a tin of sardines – we’re all of us looking for the key.” Allan Bennett

“Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. This is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil.” Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Civilization and Ethics, 1949

It has been a few years since the first time I searched for a book by Dr. Albert Schweitzer. Most are out of print and occasionally you can find a book store with a copy of his work. I remember vaguely news stories about this great man living in Africa and working in the jungles healing and trying to offer a bit of hope.

“Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn’t matter. I’m not sure a bad person can write a good book. If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for?” Alice Walker

As I read this last note it made me think so many simple things get me pondering. Each morning as I sit down to write or to journal as it seems I find pieces of myself as I go. I was listening to a friend wondering about their direction and listening to this student trying to find direction as she came into my class announcing she is ADHD. I was interesting as earlier as I watched the sky alive with color thinking back to my grandmother. Grandma Seitz and a favorite saying red in the morning sailors warning red at night sailors delight and my Georgia Tech graduate son explaining why AM stations work so much better at night. As I think each little piece to the puzzle is falling in place so please keep all in harms way on your mind and in your hearts.
namaste
bird