As I may have said before, my wife Barb had taught for 37 years in Minnesota. She was anxious to retire and move to the house we had built in New Mexico. Barb was sure she was done with teaching. She got back into teaching in a strange way, but that is a story for another night.
Barb loves her kids, and is one of the better-known, and most highly respected people in our little village, as well as the nearby pueblo. Barb loves their kids-and when you know someone loves your kids, all other differences fade away. This post concerns her experience yesterday with her second graders. I was not there to witness it, but I have had her repeat the story a few times.
This year Barb has a class of 13 kids. One of the kids, B. is a Jemez boy who has difficult issues in school. Barb had a field day for the end of school. The class was to tour the ?Jemez Monument?, and then they were coming up to our house for lunch, a treasure hunt, root beer floats and back to school. The monument is mostly an ancient church, probably constructed by Jemez Indians working as virtual slaves for the Spanish.
The monument, operated by the Forest Service, has an outside tour of the church, as well as some Jemez relegious sites, followed by an indoor tour, which is intended to show visitors a bit of the Jemez culture. There are blankets made from rabbit fur, and turkey feathers. There are also drums that tourists can bang on, mostly for the amusement of themselves or their family. When the kids had come inside, B. started drumming. He wasn?t just banging away. It turns out this second grader somehow knew how to beat the drums according to at least one of the ceremonies. The kids knew B. wasn?t just banging away, and got quiet.
Adult Jemez men working at the monument started coming into the room, performing the special type of singing that is done to accompany the drums. As the men entered the room, B. was given a ceremonial rattle, and one of the men took over the drums. B. was given the rattle because he was asked to model the ?Butterfly dance? for the other kids. This is a ceremonial dance for children. The second graders, some Jemez, some Hispanic & some Anglo formed a circle, alternating boys and girls as best they could, and learned the butterfly dance from B. Barb danced along with her kids. B. had instant status, something he had never achieved all year.
Which raises an interesting question. B. had achieved something remarkable. How many 7 year olds do you know that could have done this? But, his is not a dominant culture. This remarkable gift had no place to shine at the school. But there it was, all along. A remarkable talent, which finally had the chance to surface.
There are important lessons here, and I would love to hear your thoughts on the amazing day.
Barb loves her kids, and is one of the better-known, and most highly respected people in our little village, as well as the nearby pueblo. Barb loves their kids-and when you know someone loves your kids, all other differences fade away. This post concerns her experience yesterday with her second graders. I was not there to witness it, but I have had her repeat the story a few times.
This year Barb has a class of 13 kids. One of the kids, B. is a Jemez boy who has difficult issues in school. Barb had a field day for the end of school. The class was to tour the ?Jemez Monument?, and then they were coming up to our house for lunch, a treasure hunt, root beer floats and back to school. The monument is mostly an ancient church, probably constructed by Jemez Indians working as virtual slaves for the Spanish.
The monument, operated by the Forest Service, has an outside tour of the church, as well as some Jemez relegious sites, followed by an indoor tour, which is intended to show visitors a bit of the Jemez culture. There are blankets made from rabbit fur, and turkey feathers. There are also drums that tourists can bang on, mostly for the amusement of themselves or their family. When the kids had come inside, B. started drumming. He wasn?t just banging away. It turns out this second grader somehow knew how to beat the drums according to at least one of the ceremonies. The kids knew B. wasn?t just banging away, and got quiet.
Adult Jemez men working at the monument started coming into the room, performing the special type of singing that is done to accompany the drums. As the men entered the room, B. was given a ceremonial rattle, and one of the men took over the drums. B. was given the rattle because he was asked to model the ?Butterfly dance? for the other kids. This is a ceremonial dance for children. The second graders, some Jemez, some Hispanic & some Anglo formed a circle, alternating boys and girls as best they could, and learned the butterfly dance from B. Barb danced along with her kids. B. had instant status, something he had never achieved all year.
Which raises an interesting question. B. had achieved something remarkable. How many 7 year olds do you know that could have done this? But, his is not a dominant culture. This remarkable gift had no place to shine at the school. But there it was, all along. A remarkable talent, which finally had the chance to surface.
There are important lessons here, and I would love to hear your thoughts on the amazing day.
