What's up, Lane?

Audra just sent me this picture and I think it's pretty much the best thing ever. Be sure to take a close look at who the cameras are surrounding. Good stuff.

UU Beliefs

From an early age, I have gotten many questions about my religion and what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist. I've always told people that it can best be summed up in the Francis David quote, "We need not think alike to love alike." It's true that this gives a very surface level summary of our beliefs, but it goes deeper than that. No member of our church is required to profess certain beliefs to gain membership--there is no creed to sign or doctrine to memorize. Instead, members must commit to upholding our seven principles...they are more of a "guiding light", as opposed to a standard set of beliefs.

The sermon on Sunday got me really thinking about these principles, and I decided to share them here, in case anyone was interested. These go deeper into what UUs believe and really provide the foundation. So, for all of you wonderers out there, here they are:

There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Who's ready for Commodore football?

I know I am. This video is somewhat humorous (the acting could be of higher caliber...), but still serves to get me pumped for football season!

Being a Filler, not a Dipper

A few months ago, I made a post about my positive thinking epiphany. I also asked for any recommendations for books to read on this topic. My friend Lauryn suggested I read a book entitled How Full is Your Bucket? by Tom Rath and Donald Clifton. When I needed some airport reading on the way back from Orlando a little while ago, I decided to take it on. I started reading when we boarded the plane and was finished by the time we landed--it's no novel. However, the theories presented in the book have become a central part of what I've been thinking about lately.

The authors suggest that we all have a bucket to collect water (or positive thoughts). We all have the power to fill the buckets of others with positive interactions--and when we fill other people's buckets, ours are filled as well. At the same time, we have the power to be "dippers" and take from other people's buckets with negative interactions. Negative thoughts about others and ourselves also serve to empty our own buckets. It's quite the interesting model.

I've been really, really focusing on trying to be a bucket-filler. It has certainly been difficult at times to banish the negative thoughts that I sometimes have about others and myself, particularly during conflict. I will say that having made the commitment to create positive energy has transformed the ways I view certain people and interactions with them. Still a struggle, but I'm feeling better and better about my ability to fill buckets.

As we approach the school year, I will have more challenges in filling buckets. Stress has a way of wearing me down. Hopefully, I can continue to keep this model in mind.

In the end, this book is a quick read that can really transform how you think, if you latch onto the ideas presented. I would recommend it for anyone, as it is applicable in both personal and professional settings. If you're a teacher, be sure to purchase the Educator's Edition--it includes classroom resources. I'm also looking for more ways to integrate the bucket model into my classroom, so any suggestions would be appreciated!

People are dumb

We went to play trivia last night and this was a conversation I overheard:

Trivia Jockey: "What animated Disney movie starts with Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor?"
Table behind us: "What's a box?"

As a music teacher, my dad was appalled by their stupidity.

Nothing endures but change

This year was a great first year of teaching, despite what some of my other posts might indicate. I loved the school I was at, the teachers I taught with, my administrators, and (yes, even) the students. Though I was originally not psyched about the prospect of teaching 6th grade, things really worked out for the best.

All summer, I had planned to keep my position at this school and continue teaching just as I had been. On Tuesday, however, I got a call from my principal informing me that our enrollment was going down, and my position had to be taken away. I am now a "displaced teacher". This means that I am at the mercy of the school system to find me another position.

Luckily, my assistant principal had been transferred to another school and decided to request that I come to his new school to teach. This change became official today. I'm not sure what grade I'll be teaching, or if I will be teaching on a team, but I do know that I have a job with at least one administrator I am familiar with. The new school is much smaller than my previous school and is in a slightly "worse" area of town. I like the idea of a smaller school, because you are more able to learn the other teachers and students. We also know that I've never been one to shy away from working with "bad kids".

Overall, the situation sucks. But, if we're looking at the bright side, I do think that I have been able to find a place that will work for me. It could be worse! Tomorrow, I'm going to see my classroom and begin moving things from one school to the other.

P.S. If you're in town and wouldn't mind doing some lifting, you'd better give me a call!

Giants, Wizards, and Dwarfs

This is a game I never played as a child, and have a hard time understanding how to play as an adult. However, that doesn't diminish the power of this little story by Robert Fulghum (author of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten). It's one of my favorites as a teacher!

Giants, Wizards, and Dwarfs was the game to play. Being left in charge of about eighty children seven to ten years old, while their parents were off doing parenty things, I mustered my troops in the church social hall and explained the game. It's a large scale version of Rock, Paper, Scissors, and involves some intellectual decision making. But the real purpose of the game is to make a lot of noise and run around chasing people until nobody knows which side you are on or who won.

Organizing a roomful of wired-up gradeschoolers into two teams, explaining the rudiments of the game, achieving consensus on group identity-all this is no mean accomplishment, but we did it with a right good will and were ready to go.

The excitement of the chase had reached a critical mass. I yelled out: "You have to decide now which you are--a GIANT, a WIZARD, or a DWARF!" While the groups huddled in frenzied, whispered consultation, a tug came at my pants leg. A small child stands there looking up and asks in a small, concerned voice, "Where do the Mermaids stand?"

Where do the Mermaids stand?

A long pause. A very long pause. "Where do the Mermaids stand?" says I.

"Yes. You see, I am a Mermaid."

"There are no such things as Mermaids."

"Oh, yes, I am one!"

She did not relate to being a Giant, a Wizard, or a Dwarf. She knew her category. Mermaid. And was not about to leave the game and go over and stand against the wall where a loser would stand. She intended to participate, wherever Mermaids fit into our scheme of things. Without giving up dignity or identity. She took it for granted that there was a place for Mermaids and that I would know just where.

Well, where DO the Mermaids stand? All the "Mermaids"--all those who are different, who do not fit the norm and who do not accept the available boxes and pigeonholes? Answer that question and you can build a school, a nation, or a world on it. What was my answer at the moment? Every once in a while I say the right thing.

"The Mermaid stands right here by the King of the Sea!" says I. (Yes, right here by the King's Fool, I thought to myself.)

So we stood there hand in hand, reviewing the troops of Wizards and Giants and Dwarfs as they rolled by in wild disarray. It is not true, by the way, that mermaids do not exist. I know at lease one personally. I have held her hand.