Discovering the Wealth of Our Students! » Paying It Forward

Keeping Centered – Remaining Focused

asiajones — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:08:44 +0000

It has taken many years for me to personally accept life’s challenges as opportunities to mature while developing patience and appreciation for the experiences. Yes, I’ve learned to appreciate the challenges and curve balls life has pitched my way. Of course there have been and probably will continue to be times that I strike out trying to hit life’s curve balls. However, I choose to focus on sharpening my skills by reflecting upon the ways I was able to effectively complete the task and make it across home base. Seemingly stalled, there have been times I’ve had to stop and check each base before making it to home base. There have been times I’ve had to slide into home base all the while enduring the bumps and bruises it took to achieve the task. There have been times I’ve hit the homerun that has allowed me to breeze smoothly to home base. It is not my intent to imply that life is a game to be played. I simply want to share that one must remain focused, reflective and patient to persevere through challenges as they are bittersweet opportunities. Most importantly, like Maya Angelou, I’ve learned that one shouldn’t live life wearing a catcher’s mitt on both hands as one must be able to throw or give something back!

As an educator, daughter, friend and human being, I intentionally try to keep centered and remain focused so that I can give back and pay it forward. It truly is a great place to be in LIFE!

How many buckets have you filled today?

asiajones — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:18:53 +0000

How many buckets did I fill today is a question I ask myself as I drive home after a long and busy day. No, I am not talking about buckets on a sandy beach! I am referring to the “invisible bucket” that everyone carries along with them while at school, work, home and anywhere else they may go.

To better understand what I mean, you could ask anyone at Monterey Elementary School or simply read, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids written by Carol McCloud. This children’s book is a wonderful story that encourages children to fill someone’s bucket by way of a kind word or deed. Building upon very basic principles, McCloud’s book is a fine example of how to teach civility by encouraging adults to model “bucket filling”.

The Monterey Elementary School community has embraced the culture of “bucket filling” as the foundation of their school-wide respect plan. The teachers and administrators model and use language that is associated with being a “bucket filler” as opposed to being a “bucket dipper”. Bucket dippers by the way, are bullies or individuals that seem to enjoy conflict. I was amazed to see how even the youngest of students understood the concept of filling a bucket. Happy faces and brightly colored pictures of smiling tin buckets that share a rainbow of brightly colored stars and hearts are among a few things that introduce newcomers to the school culture.

As educators, it is our responsibility to fill every child’s bucket every chance we have. You may agree that filling one’s bucket makes you feel good which in turn fills your bucket!

Pay it forward, share the wealth, extend a helping hand, fill a bucket…

Acts of Kindness – Spread the Word!

asiajones — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:28:40 +0000

While it has been many years since I watched, “Pay It Forward”, the motion picture inspired by a novel written by Catherine Ryan Hyde, I still remember it vividly. Written as a fiction novel, this tearjerker has been a catalyst for acts of kindness and civility across the world since its inception. I believe this story exemplifies Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point – How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” for the young man in the story truly starts an epidemic by way of his social studies project. Challenged and inspired by a clever teacher’s extra-credit assignment, the middle schooler puts the needs of others above his own in response to the assignment – make a positive difference in the world.

The concept of “paying it forward” involves paying forward a favor through random acts of kindness while personally looking for nothing in return. Instead, the recipient of the deed is asked to pay the favor forward to someone else. Thus, starting the epidemic of repeated acts of kindness!

The pictures included in this blog entry are, in my opinion, one art teacher and his students’ way of “paying it forward”! Mr. Kuehl and his students at Breckinridge Middle School recently completed an assignment they call “Project Africa – A Work of Heart”. The works of art below were created from pictures taken of orphaned children in Namibia. Most of the children living in the Children of Zion Village have lost their parents to AIDS.

Mr. Kuehl explained, “I wanted my students to create portraits of the children at the orphanage. As the art teacher, I was interested for my students to learn portraiture, which I find to be the hardest artistic endeavor to do well. I was also interested in creating awareness of a worldwide problem. I felt the responsibility of seeing what we could do about it. Children in Namibia probably do not have many possessions, and children in an orphanage may have even fewer things to call their own.” Hats off to Mr. Kuehl and his students for sharing their talents with others an ocean away!

Please share how you and others under your direction spread the epidemic of kindness!