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I hear it often: the world is going you-know-where in a handbasket. The youth of this country are apathetic, uninvolved. Well folks, some are. But I had a chance to spend the day with several fairly young people who care about making a difference.
I train peer mediators in an elementary school. The school counselor and I work together to select, train, and supervise these fifth and sixth graders. The youngest may be 10, the oldest have only just turned 12, but these kids already have their heads on straight.
The applications for mediators this year were excellent quality. The kids met the deadline, filled out the papers correctly, and wrote very heart-felt pieces on why they wanted to become peer mediators. We had a great pool of boys and girls from which to choose.
Our returning mediators from last year helped us run the training. They led several activities, put on a skit, and demonstrated procedures for the newcomers. Some of these kids are very quiet in class; they surprised and impressed me with their ability to stand up and lead the group.
They paid attention, took very few breaks, and asked a lot of thoughtful questions. They deciphered a new set of vocabulary (how many 11-year-olds know the meaning of “de-escalate”, after all?) and developed an understanding of peer mediation and their role in the process. When it was all over, they helped us clean up the room we’d borrowed and headed back to school — to pick up their homework. Yes, after all was said and done, they had to make up the work they missed in class today.
We’ll meet with them tomorrow morning to tie up loose ends, practice a few mock mediations, and get them set up with their new partners. I’m excited about this group of kids. They are sincere in their wishes to solve conflicts. They really, really want to make a difference. They are quiet leaders: role models in their everyday actions, the type of student that the other kids like and respect and enjoy.
If these are the leaders of tomorrow, our world will be in good hands.

>It’s a good thing I did yard work two days ago and little more yesterday. Today it is much cooler and quite windy. That means the silver maple in the neighbor’s yard has dropped a fresh blanket of leaves to cover the ground that I raked yesterday. It also means that our backyard swing has fallen over. This only happens on the windiest of days, and it may be a sign that we should tuck it away in a safe corner and cover it for winter. It’s a good thing Amigo and I read outside in the swing yesterday; it’s not upright today!
Amigo is reading Animal Farm in school. I remember reading this book back in the days (yes, waaaay back) when this novel was considered a clear symbol of the evil Soviet Union, the big bad Russian empire. Amigo and his contemporaries were born well after the Iron Curtain fell; their perspective is limited, if not completely different from ours. His generation (and La Petite’s, for that matter) doesn’t remember the Cold War, the boycotts of the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, or the incredible hockey game in 1980. Yes, both saw the movie Miracle, but I felt obligated to give them background on internation relations of the time. It was a good movie on its own merits, but I truly believe that those of us who lived through that time better understood the value of an amateur hockey team beating those raised to the game through the Soviet system.
So Animal Farm is still standard curriculum for high school freshman. The novel has value as a story, as satire, as a good piece of literature. But without an understanding of the world as it was in Orwell’s time, can any young teen really understand it? The analogies, the metaphors, the totalitarianism illustrated in the story line, require background knowledge before any reader can fully understand.

>No topic today — or rather, too many topics.
I haven’t read the paper yet because I’ve been too busy correcting and recording grades in preparation for parent-teacher conferences.
I haven’t finished preparing for parent-teacher conferences because I’m waiting for the laundry to finish drying itself.
I haven’t folded the already-dry laundry because I was helping Amigo with his homework.
Amigo is taking a break because he is feeling overworked from difficult homework. He’ll — well, we’ll — finish after supper.
I actually started Christmas shopping already.
What?
Yes, that has some relevance, sort of. Our family loads up on birthdays in November, December, and January, so shopping ahead is the only way to handle these three months without totally breaking the bank. I shopped the back-to-school sales for clothing (no specifics, I know some of you read the blog!) and picked up a couple of random things from a book sale. I have a few leads as to online order possibilities, and I may get to those later tonight or later this week. I have a hidden storage space in the attic (snicker, I said hidden!) for gifts I’ve already bought.
So…Hence… Well, anyway, even though I haven’t finished the newspaper, the laundry, or prepping for conferences, I can pat myself on the back for getting a head start on holiday shopping.

>I can’t blog about my job in detail for several reasons.
One: teaching requires a large amount of confidentiality. Too much revealed would mean a child’s life revealed.
Two: my co-workers might read about themselves.
Three: most readers wouldn’t believe it anyway.

Truth is stranger than fiction. If I wrote a book, no one would believe it.

The past week could be described in the alphabet soup jargon of my profession. I worked closely with the EBD and PSL after an OSS for an AOP, prompting a need to use my NVCI training. Afterwards, the GC, along with the aforementioned EBD & PSL, took the matter to BCT with the SP and SSW to be sure we followed the IEP. S&L and PT/OT were informed, as was SPE. Or was that APE? Just be sure to include an SASE. No PhDs intervened, just an MS or two, and fortunately, we had no need for an MD. The EA gave RCFA instead. Applying our knowledge of ASD, we used TLC to make everything A-OK.

And that was just TGIF.

PBR me ASAP!