Guidance

When a class works on a project, particularly a messy project, it gives teachers many opportunities for guidance. Contrary to what one might think, most of this guidance isn't in the form of completely new instructions and information, but in reminding students of what they have known all along. I find myself saying:

"Clean up your own mess."
"If you got it out, put it away."
"Rinse the brushes carefully, or they will be ruined."
"Don't wear your best shirt if you know you are going to be painting."
and, the big one,
"How you behave during a project is directly proportional to how many of them you will do this year"

Which is all good advice for adults too. Most of us know how we should behave. Deep down, we know what's right and what's fair and what's decent and what's not. We know what we ought to do.
We just need someone or some circumstance to make us do it.

Today a student objected when I asked who painted the rocks gold outside our classroom door:
"I did, but you already got me in trouble for that."
"Ah, I didn't get you in trouble."
"Yes you did. You did last Friday."
"I didn't get you in trouble."
"Yes you did, remember?"
"You got yourself in trouble. I just scolded you for it."

Sadly, that is often true for adults also.
"The policeman just doesn't understand that the speed limit should be higher for this section of the road."
"The electric company shouldn't be so concerned if I'm on time with my payments."
"I can't lose weight because the fast food chain only serves fat fries."
Most of our behavior problems aren't due to a lack of guidance but to a lack of personal responsibility.

Our project is "The Exodus Museum", and Moses was one of history's most harassed guidance counselors.

So it's all very fitting that I occasionally "get students in trouble!"

The Exodus Museum--Once Again.

Once again I’m reviewing and remembering as the junior high Bible classes take down their Exodus museum. All the murals and the monuments, the maps and the models turn into portable bundles, some to treasure and store away, others to cram into the dumpster behind the gym. That time in the wilderness will soon be forgotten as we move into the anarchy of the Judges and the turbulent times of Saul and Samuel. There, on the wall, was the golden calf, commandments broken at his feet. Next to the door were Amalekites in Lego, tiny robes bound around them with little rubber bands for braces. Moses stood between Hur and Aaron as they held his little plastic hands to the sky. The three signs were given to Moses, the quail fluttered on their mobile, and the waters of Rephidim gushed from their paper mache rock. Plagues tormented in abundance—frogs, darkness, a blood-cursed Nile, dying cattle, locust, hail and fire and boils—and little clay houses stood helpless in Goshen under the assailing mural scowl of Pharaoh, while the Passover meal sat quietly on the table, ready to eat in an instant and give strength for the journey. There was a model of the tabernacle and its golden furniture; the Ten Commandments, caligraphed on paper mache; and a mural of Korah falling into an awesome crack in the earth. The walls of the Red Sea closed in around us, while fish and sea creatures loomed under an occasional spray of mischievous water. The burning bush fluttered in the wind of fire. Signs everywhere proclaimed the stations and a salt map showed the way to travel. Fun, yes, but also learning. We sampled unleaven bread from the Passover meal and a token “sugar cookie” manna. Nobody danced around the golden calf, and we didn’t grind it into powder for the class to drink, but we do remember the story. And in the process we also learned that plaster works better than paper mache. Ah yes, reviewing and remembering….like so many Israelites did for years of celebrating Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. Like them I have to smile and say, “God has been good to us.”

I managed to capture about half the students and projects for the video. Here are a few highlights...if I can get it to post.