CLASSES & JOBS

I’m incredibly envious of those people who don’t need to wear glasses or contacts. I’ve worn glasses since second grade, and would probably run into walls if I didn’t wear contacts now. I’d like to look into Lasik eye surgery soon…my mom had it done and loves it! I also have a few friends who have had it done very successfully. It’d just be amazing to wake up in the morning and actually be able to see my clock without putting my glasses on!

I remember before I got glasses I thought that they were really cool and I wanted to get them. However, as soon as I needed them, I never wanted to wear them. I loved picking out my first pair of glasses. I chose purple ones with pink on the ends. I didn’t really like wearing them though, so I avoided it at all costs. In eighth grade when I couldn’t read the board anymore I got contacts.

No way to keep from laughing when I ran across this statement recently: “I had difficulty with this book, but I was paid to recommend it to you.” –Anon. by request
This brings up a question-why do paid endorsements work? I’m not arguing that they do, but I am wondering aloud how and why they work so well. Of course, some would be right to question who really gets the promotion-the company being advertised-or the featured celebrity? Hollywood stars have reached some mythical larger than life status and, like Frankenstein, their stardom has taken on a life of its own-bigger than the star or the image-if that is possible.

My speculation regards the desire of each one to be unique in some way. Each of us wants to make our mark, to prove somehow we were here and that we counted for something. Each of us, I am convinced, cherishes a secret assurance that no one else is as good at (fill-in-the-blank-here) as we are. The category changes from person to person, but it exists in everyone. So, this said, where does the desire to “fit in” come from? Most would not debate the point that we want to be accepted and valued on some level. Being part of a whole rather than excluded from it is important to a sense of validation as a person. These two opposites seem to be impossible to fit into one human, but it is my belief that they exist to varying degrees in each of us. I just can’t help but wonder why they subsist, since they appear to be so mutually exclusive. Thoughts, anyone?

There are only two projects I kept from my student teaching days. One is the portfolio showcasing how hard I worked. The other item was an assignment I gave to a class of third graders during a unit focusing on outdoor life and habitats.

I get more than a little tired of not ever hearing the other side of the story from the environmental slant that is preached to children from their TV, in song lyrics, and in their classrooms. I decided to spend a little time one day discussing the nearly extinct concept of lack of intervention. I tried to explain to these average third graders that, sometimes, it is best to just let things be. Some situations call for direct action, some do not. It is up to us to decide when to step in and when to step out. Nature has existed for hundreds and hundreds of years-without us AND with us. It is egocentric (I did not use that word in the lesson) of us to think that we always make such a huge and detrimental impact on flora and fauna. Sometimes we do, but mostly, animal and plant life just adapt and go blithely on their way, disregarding the whole human species.

Well, most adults cannot grasp this concept, so I don’t know why I expected youngsters to get it. They didn’t. The end of the lesson had an activity where I gave the class members small scenarios and asked them to solve them. In the game of please-the-teacher-even-if –I-don’t-agree, they answered just how they thought I wanted them to. This was the most memorable response of the group. I thought of the ‘controlled burn’ policy so common in my home state when I read this one:
Question: You see that someone has started a fire in dry grass, what do you do?
Answer: Let it burn!
Out of the mouths of babes, right?