Helping the Universe

Today we actually had a good day, the 7th grade and I.

The school took us all to "Books for Africa", this organization that packs up old textbooks and reading books and ships them to poor children. The students started the trip with the obligatory "Do we have to? This is stupid" etc, but the minute the guy there said, "Take a library cart and climb into the crates to take out the books and pack them in boxes" they got all excited. I didn't hear a single complaint the whole morning, the kids actually said they thought it was cool, and maybe they would want to volunteer there during summer vacation or at least another day.

I think this was the first time, for many of these over-privileged kids, that they ever thought about anyone being grateful for castaway stuff, let alone books. Through packing they learned that there are kids with less stuff than they have and kids who actually NEED to read. They learned that not everyone has iphone touches and even shiny new stuff, and that they could make a difference.

I know I've been a cynic of a lot of these places that make you feel good about helping more than you really are. But these kids had never felt like they helped the universe before and this was a great place to start. They didn't come in with the fear that often comes at this age with soup kitchens, etc, and the children they pictured getting the gift of these books were kids, just like them.

All this they learned with not a speech, a lecture, a worksheet, a fancy smartboard interactive activity, or even a jigsaw or Engaged Learning Strategy. They learned it with their muscles and by getting dusty and by working hard. My classroom is seldom frontal, but even so, I wonder at the power of moving and getting sweaty and doing all of it in "free play" while talking to friends. I wish that my classroom could have a little more of that hard-work-magic, where learning happens despite students' greatest reservations. Why don't every day I teach I feel tired in my muscles as well as in my brain? Why doesn't their learning every day feel, well, GOOD?

Mo'adim L'Simcha!