Dreamers

As mentioned before, current Mission Corps member Maggie Myers teaches English as a Second Language classes to Visitation School's 3 and 4 year olds.

As part of a project for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a few weeks ago, Maggie had her students write down some of their own dreams and draw them. Below are a few of these beautiful projects:

 "My dream is for everyone to be friends."

 "My dream is everyone will love each other."

"My dream is we will stop fighting."

A Snow Day in Kensington

What happens when two school teachers make a snow man? Crayon hair. Check out Maggie and Claire's adventures in Snow Person creation during their snow day last week!

Inside Maggie's Classroom

You had the chance to have a look inside Claire's classroom at St. Anthony of Padua in Camden, NJ. Now take a moment to have a look inside Maggie's ESL Classroom at Visitation BVM school in Kensington.

Maggie splits her time between teaching ESL to 3 and 4 year old students of Visitation and supervising the 5th grade at aftercare.

 Maggie's classroom space is very limited but she has made the most of it! She typically has 3 students in her classroom at a time.

 The sign reads: "We play together. We share our toys. We love each other. We can all be friends."

This I Believe - Claire

The More Important Question is "What NOW?"

When I was very young, I incessantly asked, "Why". "We can't go outside - Why? Well it's raining. Why? and Why can't we go outside in the rain and why does rain happen?" My parents were saints often seeing my curiosity as a cute phase and not annoying as hell.  As I have grown older, I have not grown out of the phase, but in fact I have sharpened the inquisitive way in which I address the world. The why's began not to shape my worldview and encourage curiosity, but suffocate me in confusion, limit me by my lack of answers.

The exception to this "why" game was math class, I was never particularly good at math, but I especially found it inaccessible when questions were abstract and without applicable use. Math - circa algebra 2 - was when I began to surpass the 'why' question and begin to ask 'what now?' I don't need to know why X-2=Y+7, what I need to know is how to understand it and what next? What do I do with this?

I believe that the best way to solve problems is to avoid the unanswerable why - that question is poisonous and holds no solution. The useful, healthy, and also generally more challenging question is "what NOW". Of course causation might play into next steps but it cannot become all-consuming.

Why is there injustice? Many factors seem to far gone to remember but I ask what now? Now what do I do? Why am I queer? I can't answer, but I will tell you what I will do after. Why does our world create imbalance - regardless I will do what I can where I am and with what I have.

I believe that the past and the why's matter, but how they inform how we live and love is the greater call to question.

Claire is living the "what NOW" as a Mission Corps volunteer at St. Anthony's School in Camden, NJ teaching 5th and 6th grade.

Searching for Starfish: Never refuse a kindness.

We are excited to share Mission Corps alumna Rachel Carey's beautiful blog about lessons learned as an SSJ Mission Corps volunteer. You can read the blog by following the link below to Rachel's personal blog where she shared her writing. Thank you for allowing us to reblog this, Rachel!

Searching for Starfish: Never refuse a kindness.: At the end of my time at the Welcome Center, the sisters wanted me to tell them what I had learned.  I had some ideas, and I shared them, bu...

This I Believe - Becky

A note: Our friend Becky Bergh joined us for the Spirituality Night when we wrote our "This I Believe" statements. We wanted to include Becky's reflection for each of you to share! Becky is a Music Therapist in Philadelphia and is originally from Cincinnati, OH. 

It doesn't have to be big to be meaningful. Sometimes it just takes getting out of bed to realize it, and other times it takes a wrong turn. The world that we inhabit is so large, so complex, that beliefs can be seen as small, especially  when it is thought by one person, one family, one group.

But that's the thing about thoughts, beliefs, faiths. They begin so small, so seemingly insignificant, that sometimes it's hard to even perceive them as significant until they are all you can see. All that you do, all that you know. And they spread. Not reliably. But a little of you is integrated into her life, into his. Until these small things are quite large. This little thing ends up shaping your interactions, your experiences, your life.

I believe in insignificance. In the unseen and the forgotten. There is beauty in the little tasks: bending to pick up a pencil, in holding a door, a smile. There is strength and gratitude in those who are unknown, unacknowledged. Simply because of their seeming lack of importance, and yet where would we be without them.

Where would we be without the random affirmations from strangers? Without random acts of kindness? I believe one would be less human.

So although what we see today overwhelmingly is this desire to be known, to make our mark, to be remembered, it is often the small things that make the greatest impact.  Choosing to get out of bed in the morning. Choosing to smile. Choosing to listen to someone else talk about their day. Because in the end, we are all connected by our little acts.  The acts of love and compassion, of care, of joy. We leave our fingerprints on each other by our love. And that remains, to me, to be the most beautiful daily acts of all.

Updates from Maggie at Visitation

The following are exchanges between students and Maggie while teaching at Visitation BVM in Kensington:

“All the hotels were full so they found a place where the cow lives and they went in there and they put the Baby Jesus where the—in the—with the thing—the cow ate Him!”

~A Kindergartener explaining Christmas

“I have a white Grandpa and a black Grandpa but I’m not allowed to say his name or he’ll hit me.”

            ~ A Kindergartener on Race and Respect

“S…I…what next? S?”

<< Yes! Next is S! Very good.>>

“Knew it! Sister Pat Tiger!”

            ~ A preschooler learning how to spell his teacher’s name

“Water fountain?” 3 year olds during the 4^th month of school because during the 4^th week of school they were rewarded with a drink from the water fountain if they said the English name.

<<No, not today. Can you find my classroom?>>

“AQUI!”

            ~Some rewards work better than others

“Oh no! That is NOT fair! Dear God please let me hear—let them call my name right now so I can go home and I don’t have to clean the room!”

*Student’s name on the loud speaker*

“YES! See, God’s answering my prayers!” With a sassy finger snap he struts out the room.

            ~Actually that was my prayer being answered…

“Ms. Myers, can you teach me something?”

<<Teach you what? What are you working on?>>

“I’m done my homework. Can you teach me something I don’t know. Like that’s your job, right?”

            ~5^th Grader trying to get out of Mathscore

“Ms. Myers can you help me?”

<<With what?>>

“My homework.”

<<I mean what are you working on?>>

“Math.”

<<Ok, but what are you doing?>>

“My math homework.”

<<Deep breath: What kind of math are you doing? What topic? What type of problem?>>

“Um, page 47. All the problems.”

A typical day includes a few frustrations, plenty of joy, and countless new ways to look at the world. We already know kids say the darndest things, but couple that with a second language and I’ve got enough gems to pay off my student loans in a week!

Working with 5^th graders in aftercare is always exciting and a little frustrating but sitting next to a student as he finally finishes his math homework, or as she beats another level of Mathscore, or sharing a favorite book with a student who I know will enjoy it, or hearing about another student’s baseball game is so refreshing that all the grievances dissipate and defeat is never even contemplated.

It’s nice to feel that you are somewhere you belong even if you can’t recall exactly the path it took to get there.