Fearlessly waiting for inspiration

(Blog post started 9/10/13, reread 10/12/13  Here's this unfinished piece that led to a new adventure... where did the last month go?! )

The invitation crept into my inbox. Then exploded in my imagination.

Mentoring at-risk students.

A one page summary of my qualifications and reasons for interest in this position is requested.

One page?

Maybe a lifetime of vignettes to illustrate my reasons and qualifications. I don't think that will fly.

I suppose the thing to do is to just start writing and hope it fits on one page...

"Relationships with Educators Accelerate Learning"

Why I want so much to be one of those Educators in the REAL program. Let me count the ways.

1. Mentoring a student one summer during Master's degree program (Major: Social, Multicultural, Bilingual, Equity Education)
2. Numerous home visits during my 18 year teaching career in public education
3. Diverse teaching positions including: 

• Bilingual classroom teacher of kindergartners, 1st graders, 2nd graders English (non bilingual) classroom teacher of 4th graders, 75% ELLs Bilingual Title 1 Literacy teacher ESL support for classroom teachers ESL teacher: Newcomers and Writing focus After-school Writing Project teacher 

Well, now the formatting is slaying me, so I need to stop struggling with it and compose in a Word document so I can focus on the content instead of bullets and margins.

What Lurks Beneath

There is a thick blanket of foliage covering an incline-garden near the playground around my school. During recess the students often investigate what is under the mulch. Sometimes there are mushrooms or worms, sometimes just sticks and bark. Last week, the first graders discovered a hole, which seemed to go a long way into the earth beneath.

Small groups of children would gather around this mysterious burrow. When the crowd grew large, I suggested they go back to their games of jump-rope or tag. Soon another little group would come investigate the tunnel. Finally I asked José what he thought was down inside that hole.

He confidently replied: "Smurfs."

I must have not heard correctly. "Did you say 'Smurfs'?"

"Yes," he replied with a what-else-could-it-possibly-be sort of look ... then he scampered off to the tether ball area as I stood with this extraordinary vision of the world as seen through the eyes of a six-year old.