Ms. Understood

Need to get away

Is there a place far enough?

Going Going Gone.

I am teaching my class poetry. I love teaching the poetry unit. We started out reviewing adjectives and talked a lot about fantastic vivid language. We discussed how it is so much more interesting to use the word colossal instead of just using boring old BIG. I told them it was important to branch out a bit in our writing and use words that interest the reader. 

Then I remembered one time I was writing something for 8th grade English. I thought I would be so smart and so I used the thesaurus to find a synonym for some word. In my mind I thought, oh yeah..this is totally going to get me an A! I got my paper back and it had a big fat B on the front. I was so mad, I mean after all I had gone the extra mile to look ONE word up in the thesaurus. As I flipped through the essay there was my fancy word circled in RED, with a note next to it that said..”What is THIS?” 

Sigh. Misunderstood. 

I had my class write a poem about Witches. The kids fill adjectives in the blanks and VOILA there is this nifty little poem when you are finished. The poem goes something like this:

__________________ Witches

___________________Witches 

Those are just a few.

__________________Witches (And so on)

I collected the final drafts and as I was grading them one little boy in my class started his poem out:

Teacher Witches

Green Witches

Those are just a few.

I thought, Am I a teacher witch? Maybe I am a teacher witch. I didn’t think I was a teacher witch. 

Me and Elphaba misunderstood witches. 

I really believe misunderstandings are part of the learning curve of life. We think we have all the facts and so we make an assumption. When in truth we really don’t have all of the facts all the time. I do it all the time. I wish I didn’t. I wish I didn’t make judgement calls with just half the facts but you know, it happens. Why am I carrying on about misunderstandings? I don’t know, maybe because I just learned a valuable lesson from one. There is a saying that says: Be kinder than necessary for everyone is carrying a heavy burden. Isn’t this true? We all are. There was an assumption made about me, in which all the details were not known. I was humiliated and chastised and my feelings were hurt. I was so shocked by the assumption that was made. I remember thinking this assumption is SO far off, if they really even knew what was in my heart…..they would see that we are really the same. They would see we have the same thoughts and feelings, they would see that I had also had a hard week, month, and year. That there is no need to be mean, and there certainly is no need to gang up on me. But, no one asked they just fired the artillery. I was shocked and mostly I was hurt. I went into my room and I knelt down to pray. I didn’t know what else to do. I cried, deep heavy sobs of exhaustion from this straw that had just broken the camels back. After I prayed, I understood. I understood that the group making the assumptions was just as tired as I was. They were worn out and busy too and mostly I just felt love for them and hoped that their worries would be eased. I hoped they would understand that I wished, what ever they wished and that was all. 

and then I cried some more. 

and I complained to God and I asked him to help me to not be so feeble minded. To help me have strength to get through ONE MORE DAY. 

And then my heart calmed, my tears dried, my crying hiccups stopped and I was wrapped in peace. I felt deeply loved and cared for and I knew that my Heavenly Father knew and TOTALLY UNDERSTOOD and he would help. 

And he did. 

Misunderstandings Suck. XOXO The Sunny D