The following vignettes have a theme of food--you'll find some to be of a serious nature and others to be lighter in content.
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In my earlier years, I would bake my students cookies and brownies. Yes, bringing in food can be construed as a form of bribery, but if you know me--it truly was out of kindness. I have learned kindness can be a wonderful motivator for my students. And now that I am a mother of two and don't have time to bake, I occasionally bring in munchkins.
Anyway I digress, so one day years ago, I passed out some homemade brownies at the beginning of class in attempt to keep my students engaged in a grammar lesson. A bunch of girls were giggling in the back as they ate their brownies and some other students were glancing around nervously. I was oblivious to any behind the scenes nonsense and began teaching. A few moments later, the assistant principal was knocking at my classroom door. He called out the three giggling girls to take their backpacks and leave the room with him.
Come to find out they had been identified the class period beforehand as getting high in the girls' bathroom. And then of course they came to my class with the munchies. And here I was passing out brownies! Sigh, I didn't know!
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When I was in high school, I remember learning about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, but it was until I started teaching that I understood the application of the Hierarchy of Needs. If you need a refresher, please click on the link below.
The reason why I share about the Hierarchy is because if I have students sitting in front of me who haven't eaten--and I don't mean skipped breakfast because they woke up late--I mean haven't had a warm, nutritious meal in days, how can I expect them to activate their brains to learn whatever is the lesson of the day? Yes, some students may muddle through while hungry, but they are not accessing their true potential. Thankfully years ago, I worked with some fabulous guidance counselors (thanks Kim, Gina, Barry, and Bill!) early in my career who were able to provide me with information about certain students' life situations. This collaboration enabled me to figure out that if I wanted the best from my students, I needed to create opportunities for my students to access food.
Yes, some of our students qualified for free or reduced breakfast and lunch, but have you ever seen how much a teenager can eat and drink throughout the day? I shared a classroom with my colleague Sarah; we would keep a drawer full of granola bars and other snacks and discreetly let our students who were in need that they had free access to the drawer. The difference we saw in our students' physical and psychological demeanor was transformational. They knew they would have some of their nutritional needs met as well as the emotional safety of knowing they would always have access to some food. And cognitively, they could now access their learning.
I know a lot of teachers who provide their students with food and other necessary resources for learning. Yes, we do it because we know students learn more when their brains are fed, and we do it because it is the humane, loving thing to do.
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And for those of you who didn't read an earlier blog of mine, there's the jelly doughnut story:
I have grown as a teacher because I have learned:
To duck quickly when a student throws a jelly doughnut at you. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. You may be thinking at least it wasn't a chair or another form of a weapon (don't worry, those things were thrown at me later in my teaching career.) Anyway, a freshman girl who had some anger management issues threw the doughnut at me when I told her she couldn't eat it in the classroom. Now mind you, it wasn't my classroom. As a rookie teacher, I had to travel around the school to five different classrooms. The classroom I was in where I dodged the doughnut was the classroom of a very bitter and cynical teacher. I personally didn't mind if students had a snack or a drink in class; however, this teacher did and made it very clear to me that she would have me reprimanded if she found food in her classroom. So when I pleaded with my student that it wasn't my policy, but we had to respect the classroom teacher's policy, the student scowled and threw the doughnut at me. As I ducked, it hit the blackboard and as if in slow motion, splattered and dripped down the blackboard. For a split second, I admired my quick reflexes to duck, but then I was horrified at the thought of the bitter teacher seeing the remnants of the doughnut on her blackboard. Oh and yes, I was also upset that my student made a bad choice and therefore, I directed her to the principal's office.
Lastly, I want to talk about tea. If I was your teacher, you know my drink of choice is tea--hot tea, iced tea, green tea, black tea, flavored tea...nothing added to it--just water and a tea bag. I grew up loving tea because my mother and her best friend would always meet up for tea; and as a child I would observe their loving friendship as they drank their hot tea. As a teacher, tea serves as a comfort, an inspiration, and a conversational starter and a connector. Often students will see me with my Honey Dew, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, or travel mug filled with tea in the morning. I have had many a student start a conversation with me about how they drink tea when they aren't feeling well or how refreshing an iced tea is on a hot day. Or a student will mention that his grandmother, favorite aunt, or dad drinks tea. Some of my greatest teacher gifts I have received is a gift card to Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks, so I can buy a hot tea! What I love is receiving a text from a former student who says he/she was drinking a cup of tea and thought of our class and/or something he/she has learned in our class.
I once read the three things people from different culture can connect over are: food, music and dance. I have found this idea to be so true with the culture of teenagers. I shared about food today--I'll save my music and dance stories for another blog. :)
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