Distractions

Distractions

Once upon a time, I had a student named Charles. One day, as Charles worked at his desk, the principal announced an emergency dismissal over the loudspeaker. All of my students leaped up to grab their school bags, shrieking and rushing about bumping into each other as I tried to restore order. Charles sat placidly at his desk working away.  

About five minutes into this scene, Charles looked up. I caught his attention and told him that he had better pack up. “Oh,” he said and gathered his belongings obediently.

Charles is memorable because he was an unusual student. He was an average student with average abilities and average looks but in one thing he was very strange: nothing distracted him.  

What distracts students? 

Everything. 

You name it; they’ll be distracted by it. I have seen girls spend days gazing at the fingernails they glued on for a flower girl stint, picking them off one by one, arranging them in patterns, holding them up to catch the light, coloring them with markers and pasting them on pencils.  

A ruler is a magical toy. Not only can you measure things with it, but it also serves as a propeller, a drumstick or a weapon to bop your neighbor on the noggin.  

Any and every item in a desk can draw attention for some kids. One of my guys loved to arrange his pencils, crayons and erasers in battle formation. Another pulled apart each page of her notebook to make feathers of paper. These she rolled and stored in her pencil box for future experiments. A laugh in the hall, a bird swooping by the window, a sniffle, a burp, a gust of wind, all pull eyes and minds away from a lesson. Don’t even mention what happens when the first flakes of snow flutter down.

Teachers work hard to keep attention. We plan dazzling lessons filled with wonderful learning tools. Unit blocks are great for teaching place value. Unfortunately, they also encourage tower building. Plastic clocks help students learn to tell time; but isn’t it fascinating how the hands go round and round? Highlighters boldly mark important facts and also connect to make really long and colorful pointers. Glue works great on paper and fingers. What fun to peel it off!  

Kids see the world in a wholly different way. Where adults see a tool, kids find a toy. Scotch tape offers endless possibilities. Wrap it around a pencil for a unique grip. Tape six crayons together and draw a rainbow. Pull it over your lips and make your friends giggle. Stickers can decorate a nose or an ear or become a finger-tip puppet. 

It’s a magical and distracting world. I found myself banning bracelets, hair ribbons, watches, pencil-sharpeners and key rings. Keep them home I cautioned. Put them in your school bag. Look at the board. Focus on your book. Listen. Watch. Pay attention.  

But it is a losing battle. Kids will be distracted. I find it amazing that they learn as much as they do. With all the wonderful diversions the world offers, a student somehow still learns to read, to figure, to write and to wonder. What a wonderful brain a child has! 

A friend of mine taught in a rural school in Africa. Whenever a truck or tractor rumbled by, her students rushed over to the windows to watch. Motor vehicles are rare in that community without roads and her students would debate make and model and discuss possible destinations. It always took awhile to refocus attention on her lesson.

One day, a donkey cart rambled by. The students rushed to the windows. 

“Wait a minute,” said my friend.  “Surely you’ve seen donkey carts before.”

  

“Yes,” her students agreed.  “But we have never seen that one.”

Hats On

Hats On!

Hats On!

    I do not like to wear hats -- but I wear one every day. Let me explain.

When I was young, hats were de rigueur – required in polite society. We wore bonnets to church, beanies (yes, beanies) to school, caps for sports, hats for clubs, wool hats in winter wand sunhats in summer. Hats were fashionable. We removed our hats to show respect and put them on to show allegiance. Hats were in.

But I hated to wear hats! I rebelled vociferously! Hats gave me a headache. Hats gave me hat-head. Hats limited my view. I looked terrible in hats. I didn’t care how stylish my hats were – I didn’t want anything to do with them. Most of the time, I put them on to please my hat-knitting grandmothers, to stay out of trouble at school, and to remain a member of the team, but I grumbled.

My mother, however, loved hats (read that LOVED hats). She had a hat for every occasion, and, if there wasn’t an occasion, she made one up to fit the hat! She had birthday hats, Santa hats, Halloween hats, Easter bonnets, and leprechaun bowlers, stove-pipe hats for patriotic holidays, and hats related to family events. She had hats from every corner of the globe. She had hats that sang and hats that danced. She wore them even while her six children ducked their heads and grimaced behind her. 

Today, she has a huge collection of hats. She carefully chooses one to wear each day. They make her happy. They make others happy too. People grin when they see her coming. Her Christmas tree hat with the blinking lights make children’s eyes light up. Her leprechaun hat brings smiles to more than Irish eyes. You can be sure that if it is your birthday --even if you are on the other side of the world -- Mom will have a hat on her head in your honor – complete with “flaming” candles. 

The smiles her hats inspire are mirrored by the smile on Mom’s face. She likes making people smile. She radiates joy. Even though her world has gotten smaller in the last few years, the happiness she shares with her smiles and her hats continues to spread.

So why do I wear a hat every day? Well, for practical reasons, of course. Hats keep the sun out of my eyes and off of my face. But more importantly, when I put a hat on my head, I think of my mother and smile. 

I remember how she smiled as she cared for her children, her husband, her mother, and her father-in-law – all ten of us who shared our family home. I remember how she welcomed every new neighbor as if they were family. I remember how she made friends with everyone she met. I remember that she continues to share this joy every day and in every place. How can I not smile with a mother like that?

So every day, when I put on my hat, I think of Mom and smile. I actually hope to get hat-head because if wearing hats make you as happy as Mom, I’m going to put one on. And, when I see you coming, I’m going to smile. I hope you smile too.