We Elders

We, Their Elders…

That phrase stayed with me from yesterday’s Fifth Annual Diversity Summit. Elders. I know I am a grown-up and I’m older. I have grown nieces and nephews who are now raising their own families. I have mentored first year teachers and supervised student-teachers in the past. I guess I knew I had become an elder, but it didn’t really strike me until Consuelo Kickbusch referred to the adults in the room that way. Elders.

That word resonates with me. My father was an elder in our church. In the church homes of my parents, there was no Mr. or Mrs. Or even Dr. There were only Brothers and Sisters. I remember confusing my Franciscan Order Nuns at St. Mary’s School in Baldwinsville, NY when I would tell them stories of Sister Jerry and Brother Herbert. That is how we showed reverence to our elders.

As elders, we yield great power and must exercise great responsibility to our students. They are our charges and we are charged to teach them well. Well, isn’t just the curriculum and faithful execution of polished lesson plans. Well is teaching the whole child. I don’t think that happens when the child feels you don’t see them.

I heard Manny Scott in two days give two very different talks to his audience. In one, he spoke to us, the elders of the learning community, and in the next, he spoke to the students. He shook some trees and invited the students to share that they were in pain and needed us, their elders, to help them or get them help.

With the elders, he shared uncensored stories of his youth. They were still lingering with me when he showed us that many of our students had stories that were similar and it broke my heart to see how many of our students were in pain, feeling hopeless, or had burdens too heavy to bear by themselves.

Every day I set out to create an environment safe for learning, risk-taking, sharing, being authentic. Every day I try to let my students know that they are the reason I wake up, without grumbling, at 5am. They are the reason I look forward to Mondays. I don’t usually tell them, I just hope they will know, by my spirit, that I am here because of them--- not the paycheck or the bills I pay with the paycheck. They matter.