I believe that my students would probably argue, just assign less; however, I assure you THAT is not an option even though it would have made my life A LOT easier this semester. I know that they might not understand this because their educational journey is relatively young, but is critical that I make sure that they have the necessary tools to be able to successfully write in all of their other college classes. It is important to share knowledge, to have discussions, to listen to alternative views, to open the doors to new perspectives, and through the process, we BOTH learn. Learning is CRITICAL!
I love to teach, but I also love to learn, and each semester gives way to new opportunities to do both. This semester has been brutal as my little college has gone through some extremely difficult times. We have been shot down, but not destroyed, and we are working very hard to build back what was lost. There is so much heart and soul that I can think of no place that I would rather be. And through the difficulties of the semester we have learned a lot about who we are as a college and who we aspire to be in the future.
And then I found myself thinking about the students that wrote my gianormous stack of papers, the topics they chose, the ones that were mostly perfect, the ones that were mediocre, and the others that were, well, not so good. Then I thought about the ones that were missing. The ones that I lost throughout the semester because life was just too tough. I thought about the ones that "almost" made it, but couldn't quite finish the game. I thought about each and every one of them today . . . not one was missed. I even called a couple to just make sure they were okay and to offer a little time to "finish up."
Each student has such a different journey that they are on mentally, spiritually, and educationally. Most of my students have kiddos and significant others. Most have jobs outside of college. Most struggle with having enough money for gas and the necessities. Almost all of them travel a distance to go to college, and maybe, just maybe, if there are limited variables, they will find themselves walking across the stage to accept a diploma honoring a job well done.
However, today I just cannot help but think about the papers from the students who are missing . . . sigh . . . How often does that happen to us? We notice that someone that we once cared about is kind of MIA, and yet, we are too busy to take the time to make sure that they are okay. We are too busy to make a phone call. We are too busy to let them know that we miss them in our lives. We are just TOO busy! GUILTY! I think there is a lot that we can learn about ourselves and life when we seek out those who are lost, lonely, broken, and messed up. I think we have to take a moment and ask ourselves who do we "aspire" to be in the future?
So whereas you maybe did not see a "sea of papers" and you probably did not see the good, the bad and the ugly side of writing. And you most certainly did not see the stress my correcting caused me, I am HOPING that you CAN see those who are missing from your lives this holiday season. Maybe, just maybe, the Spirit of Christmas can work though each of us to give a little HOPE to the broken and lost. End of lesson for the day.
Sarah Day 20
Every week, I try to spend a few hours on the internet looking at The Petition Site and Be The Change. I usually have to give myself a strict amount of time to spend on the sites, or I would get caught up on them for days. These sites are basically a way for people to raise their voice in a world that's dominated by money and power, and they put pressure on governments and corporations. These sites make people aware of different issues happening in the world, and I believe that's extremely important.
You can search for petitions in several categories. For example, health, human rights, animal rights, politics, etc. Each category can be broken down even further. For example, animal rights can be broken down to animal abuse, animal research, farm animals, or pets. Then, if I were to click on "animal abuse," the site breaks it down again. I could choose to "sign the hottest animal abuse petitions" or I could choose "nonprofit animal abuse petitions", "activist animal abuse petitions", or "latest in animal abuse." There are thousands and thousands of petitions on these sites, and I find it fascinating to see what others are concerned about.
Each petition needs a certain amount of signatures. "Send Bijlee to a Shelter" needs 98,000 signatures, and they are at 97,645. "Stop Horse Slaughter in Canada" needs 10,00 signatures and they are at 10,302. Of course I choose animal petitions to use as examples, but they are my weakness. Each petition has a description of what it's about and why it was created. It also tells you who created it, who the target is, and how many signatures are needed. The more people speak out about issues like these, the more the issue is noticed, and the less it can be ignored.Today was the first day that I've had a chance to check out the sites since mom and I started the blog. When I opened up the Petition Site, I was already thinking about everything with a different perspective. Although the issues that I was reading about were all cruel, sad, or unfortunate, I realized that someone started the petition because someone cares about it. It has hundreds or thousands of signatures because all of those people care about it too. And it's shared on Facebook or Twitter so many times because those people really care about it!
These sites are intriguing and inspiring. They give people a chance to change something that they don't like, or recognize someone for doing something that we do. They show me things and teach me things that I probably wouldn't know otherwise . . . which is exactly what the sites are supposed to do. They're supposed to raise awareness for ourselves and for everyone else. They give us hope that we actually can make a difference, in this sometimes cruel and cold world. And sometimes, that's all we need . . . a little bit of hope!
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