Feeling Safe

Celebrating one hundred days of school can be an opportunity to have fun with big numbers. A colleague mentioned in the staff room that in a couple of years, she would like to bring her ninety eight year old grandma to school. My reaction was, "Why wait? Would she be able to come this year?"  (Understanding a century is a math expectation for grade four students.)

It began last week with the writing down of our wonderings e.g "Were you one of the Pioneers?" "Did you have computers?..... restaurants?.....medical service?" We soon had a full range of questions for this special lady to answer when she came to visit our classroom.

I have not seen my students so engaged and quiet, listening intently as she responded to their wonderings, needing her granddaughter sitting beside her because she doesn't like hearing aids. We heard about her experience in a tornado, about her amazement riding in a car for the first time, about pumping water into the kitchen as an innovation and lots of other firsts.  So much change in one lifetime.

From 1916 to 2014 she has not only had technological change to adjust to but also relational and family change. As a great grandma, her extended family can still experience four generations in one room! One question I had was, "What has remained the same for you, living through so much change?"  She said it was feeling safe.

What would make someone feel safe?  She was obviously part of a strong family unit with parents and then a husband providing a feeling of safety. Her daughter was clearly taking care of her, providing transportation that day to the school. Looking back, it's always easier to see where we've come from, but when living in the moments, you can only take each day as it comes.

I can wonder but only imagine what the future might look like for my young students.  Maybe I just need to equip them to deal with life's moments, to persevere as risk takers and to embrace new learning as it presents itself. My hope is to embrace MY future century with the same grace and sparkle that walked into my classroom. Maybe that feeling of safety is the foundation that will allow all of us to press into change.