Sunday, November 21, 2010

Life in Chaos

If someone would have told me when I was younger that I would be a Senior in college at age 33, with 3 children and a husband I would have laughed uncontrollably. Why would anyone, I mean ANYONE be in college when they were old? It does not make sense to me.

The younger me was naive and selfish. She was certain that she did not need to get an education because she was smart enough already. She was concerned with making a name for herself. She was a fool.

Luckily I am not her anymore.

I am a mother. I am a wife. I am a college student that is a year away from getting a Bachelors Degree in Liberal Studies in Culture. I have somehow managed to do all of that relatively well considering the amount of multitasking I do on a daily basis. I only occasionally have a melt down and ask myself why.

I am a Superhero according to my children. I am a fixer, a healer, a teacher, a friend, a judge and jury, a monsters that go bump in the night banishing force of nature. My only weakness is wasps. Even Superman had kyrponite.

Why would someone with my powers decide they want to teach teenagers about History? We all know teenagers do not typically care about what happened a long time ago. Their world only consists of themselves and their love interest of the moment and their friends. Why would someone intentionally submit themselves to the torture of daily contact with teenagers with the goal of TEACHING them? I have no idea. I do not know why. I only know that for some reason I do want to teach History to teenagers adn I always have.

Teenagers often wander through the world wondering why things happen. I can help them to learn why. The answers to all of those questions are found in History.

I hope to one day be able to explain, to even one child, why History is important and why it affects the present. I have always been able to explain things in a way  that is easy to understand and is relatable. I am straightforward and to the point. Even though I am an adult I do not put myself above others just because of age. I treat everyone the same as long as they are respectful to me.

I am not going to be like other teachers. I believe that learning is more than memorizing facts. History is more than dates, people and places. It is stories that explain the world we live in and the people who live in it. It paints a picture of life that we would never see unless we lived it. Engaging a young person in a lesson is important if you want that young person to pay attention.

I am a story teller. I bring History to life. I make History a part of the present. I will be successful. I have no doubts about that. It is only a matter of when,

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