Mi manana en clase de espanol

So I spent this morning in Spanish class. I really enjoyed it; most of the classes were learning about the Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean dictator who was responsible for at least 3,000 deaths and over 29,000 people being tortured. We listened to the song that brought international attention to this problem by Sting called "They Dance Alone (Gueca solo)" and attempted to watch a video on YouTube (didn't work as planned). At the end of one of the class periods the students were asked to think about "what a Christian response to this type of situation?"

That question made me think on two issues. First, the obvious, "what is the Christian response to such issues?" And it made me think about an issue I discussed in my previous post on Mustard Seed and religion. I am a strong advocate for knowing what is going on in the world around us; how are we, as Christians, supposed to seek justice for those for whom justice is being perverted, if we are unaware where justice is being perverted? So, I was really excited to see that issues outside another countries cultures, economies, and such are being explored AND what is even more exciting in my eyes is that students at such a young age are asked to look at these issues critically and think about what their responses as Christians should be. This particular exercise made me more excited to see how MS deals with religious content because I really felt as though as if students were not being taught doctrine, but in having to think about what their response should be they were able to form their own beliefs in a safe place with guidance.

I decided today that the Resource Room will probably be my favorite place in the Mustard Seed School, not necessarily because the teachers in here are fabulous and cooler than all the other teachers (although they are fabulous), but because class room management is not an issue in here like it is in other places. Today in Spanish there were a few classes that really struggled because of students not doing signals and not listening as they should--it really only takes one student to mess up a whole class; however, in here (the RR) usually you only deal with students one-on-one or at the most two-on-one, so classroom management is not really an issue.

Tomorrow it's off to the Nest.

Mustard Seed School

Today is my second day at the Mustard Seed School in Hoboken, NJ and I am excited to see what it holds for me. I am working/observing the Resource Room, which is a place where children can come if they need a quiet place to get away to do their work, where teachers can send students for a "time-out," but the main purpose is for students who need help in specific academic areas or struggle with learning disabilities. It is an incredible resource at an amazing school.
Favorites of the School thus far:
1. Casual dress...I am wearing jeans right now and loving it.
2. Embracing the arts...art is everywhere around me and it just makes me happier (and the students as well)
3. Optimism...everything is done in a genuinely positive way.
4. How conflict is handled: it is not pushed aside, students are not disciplined without purpose.
That is something that I have found to be a theme throughout this school: purpose. Everything done is purposeful. There is a reason for everything, and when students ask it is explained. That is something I have found quite innovative; I was talking to Mrs. Miller this morning about a particular student who did not find imaginative spelling to work for him because when told to spell a word how it sounded he replied by asking how he was supposed to spell a word like it sounded if he had not been taught what the correct sound for letters were (this was a kindergardener!) and so he was taught another way. A way that made sense to him.

Yesterday during seminar the principal of Mustard Seed came and spoke to our group. At the end of her talk was a Q&A period. One question that was asked was about religious teaching here. Mustard Seed is a non-denominational school and is an open school, which means you don't have to be a Christian to attend here-so the religious make-up is quite diverse. It is interesting to explore (in my mind) the implications for that because I have always thought of Christian education as Covenantal education (for Christians-only). Worship is done everyday, students are required to lead in worship at certain times and the gospel itself is seen very overtly all over the school. However, because of the type of school there are no doctrine classes and stories are much more prevalent than "truths," that's not to say that the stories are not presented as truths, but they are told as stories. It will be interesting to get a greater taste of this type of education and the implications of this over the next few weeks.