connections

So I bumped into a fellow RVB-er today and we shared a laugh over the joy of finding a new post on a friend's blog. There really isn't anything like it-- except for finding a comment posted on your own post! It's not really my life philosophy, but the idea of connectedness certainly influences me a lot. I mean, I still send a Christmas card to MY 4th grade teacher! Since becoming an Alt Ed teacher, I've made it the focus of our classroom: connected to our classmates, our school, our community. This little conversation (as I was leaving a concert in which my bestfriend's daughter was singing) is just another example of how important connections in our lives are, however we get them. I would not have missed her concert unless I had no other option, because connections with non-parental adults are so important to growing kids. I would not have walked by my friend without stopping to talk and laugh unless I was late for wherever I was headed next. And as cool as our little online community is, knowing each other personally makes it even cooler for me. I only regularly read one blog of someone I don't know in my real life, and that's just because it's such a cool math idea that it makes me happy.

Then, at the end of track practice, we were waiting for the straggling parents to arrive (the last kids left 30 minutes after practice ended). A local boy who will probably be in my class in 5 years was hanging around the front of the school. Dave made a point to talk to him, once he figured out who this kid was and why he was out about town at 7 PM on a school night. Instead of just yelling at him to go home, we talked to him while waiting for all the rides to come. It's obvious he's got it rough, and more obvious that one 30 minute conversation with a few random people isn't going to make much difference. But maybe it will. Maybe we won't see it until he's in school with our kids, or in our classrooms. Or maybe when we see him again and say hi, just because we can. Connections, baby.