Friday, April 18, 2008

Life is Beautiful


As a class we have been studying World History and specifically the Holocaust. Obviously this is an important event, 6 million Jews were killed by Hitler and his Nazi regime, but I really wanted my students to have more than a numerical understanding of what took place.
First of all to teach a sensitive subject such as the Holocaust it is important to remember to include all the factual information, but it is also important for the students to make a personal connection to the event to truly take steps towards removing the kind of racism and discrimination that led to the death of so many. I could go on and on about how to try and attempt this but the key is that there must be some level of self reflection in which you the student or person can place yourself in the shoes of someone living through the Holocaust to really fully (to the best of your ability) understand the scope of this terrible event.
This culminated in my showing of the movie Life is Beautiful. If you have not yet rented this movie, go now and get it......I mean it, right now, STOP READING THIS AND GET OFF YOUR REAR AND RENT IT...
Well if you are still here you must have gone and rented the movie and are preparing to watch it (It is Better subtitled - but that is just my preference). The Point of this whole bloggin story is that I watched this movie a few years ago and it impacted me, but today as I watched it with my students I realized that there are many things that are different than they were the first time I watched it. Today I am married, a father, a husband, and this has changed my life. I hadn't thought about this for a while but my life is so different... and when I watched this movie I realized how much.
This man lives to protect the innocence of his child, to love his wife with all his heart despite the physical boundaries of a concentration camp, and in the middle of all this mess protects the beauty of Life for his son who is not aware of what is going on around him.
May I become a Man like this Man.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

School

School!!! This is what I do. I am a teacher, and I am taught. I am an educator and I get educated. Nothing is as it seems, and when it is, beware because that just means your in for a surprise! Not to be understood as negative, I absolutely love what I am doing right now. It is everything that I never knew I always wanted and more. And not just at school, life has this sneaky way of teaching lessons you I didn't see coming. I think that is because life is like Chuck Norris.... You see Chuck doesn't sleep...He waits!! And similarly Life does not sleep or rest, it patiently waits and just when your not thinking anything is happening with life...Whack! It sneaks up and roundhouse kicks you in the butt just to prove that patience wins out in the end. Sneaky Life! It just gets me everytime.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Erase The Dark

Erase the Dark was great! It was really cool to walk in and see all the hard work of so many people come together in one room. The paintings and photography were so creative. Total props to Jeremy Coverdale and his photo's (I overheard people raving about the train pic). It was really cool to see so many people mingling and getting to know each other. Sean Gafner's food army were incredible, although I missed the "tortuga", was that rolling around on a plate somewhere? Maybe it was just that I got caught up in the moment during the Man in the Water movie.