Found my Rhythm

If I blog about my disappointments and struggles, my moments of self disgust, I must too write about the moments of triumph I experience. Today was one of those days. A day where I choked up in class, not out of frustration, but out of emotion, out of connection with my students when two openly cry 'why? why did this happen?' A day where my biggest problem child sits quietly through my lecture, and is the first to put his hand up when I ask if there are questions. A day where when I assign homework, each child eagerly writes down the info they need to begin their research. A day when I felt like not only was I teaching my kids something important, but we were all learning from each other what it means to see suffering in others, and ask why it had to happen. Today I taught a lesson in each of my grade 7 classes (100 kids) on childhood and child soldiers in Sierra Leone. We watched an interview with Ishmael Beah on the Hour, and a documentary filmed a few months after the end of the war which interviews both child soldiers and child amputees. We had a long discussion about what it means to be a child soldier, and that they still exist today. Next class, we have decided to create an awareness campaign, and my students will be designing posters to inform their school about the issue of Child Soldiers. Through the sorrows of others my kids and I found our rhythm. Their outraged questions and discussions today showed me we need each other.