Having Reasons Makes Me Happy

Yay for today!

I bought two books today, and reading them is like being given a thousand dollars to spend exactly as I please. Oh, make that a million. Freedom! Fireworks! Rapturous tumults of effervescent radiance!!! (In my brain, that is...and hopefully it will get out soon.) God is so good to me. He really does answer prayers, and He's in the middle of something in my life that is way too big for me to understand. So I want to just enjoy the ride.

All of my english teacher inclinations are aroused today, right down to the long brownish plaid skirt I'm sewing.

The books I got are called "Any Child Can Write" and "If You're Trying to Teach Kids to Write...You've Gotta Have This Book." Sounds audacious as I type it. I'm so excited because I get the chance to use words and write and wake up the english language in kids. At least three, that I know of. Broderic, Bronwyn, and Mattie. Oh the ideas I'm getting! My greatest fear is that I don't know enough to teach them...but what I don't have in professional knowledge, I'm discovering I have (and will have in increasing amounts) in enthusiasm and genuine love for the language. And this teaching thing...well, it gives me a very legitimate reason to pursue writing myself, and keep indulging my personal bent for learning. I haven't been able to really learn on my own or dedicate myself to writing as I desire to, simply because I'm never quite sure if it's ok...if it's not selfish, or a waste of time, or something goofy like that. Maybe you would just give me a big "DUH" on that one, but it is a huge obstacle to me.

However...if I'm going to teach kids to read and write and love learning and language, well then, I had better love it and learn it myself, right? Reading "If You're Trying to Teach Kids to Write..." reminded me that the kids need to see a a living example of a writer right in front of their eyes. They have to see you DO IT to know it's important. And, they need to know you will go through it all right alongside them, that you aren't an ogre out to make their lives miserable with impossible assignments. In the book, the theme is: It's not about writing, it's about human beings. Teachers should model the sacrificial love of Christ by expecting nothing out of the kids that they have not or do not go through themselves. Mrs. Burklin has always been a great example of this to me, and that principle is probably one of the most significant I've learned from her over the four years of being her pupil. She had (has) a very high academic standard, but never put us through work that she was not willing to participate in and take responsibility for herself.

These are just tumbly thoughts climbing out of heaps in my head. It's very busy up there right now. I was also going to add a bit about how I got a haircut today and feel much more like a real girl than a Tibetan yak who lost his hairbrush...(in the East Texas summertime, no less!) but I think, though, that I'm going to shut it down and find somewhere to hibernate with my new books. Ciao!