Do you think I care that we live on a mesa in the middle of the desert? Not really. I only have three students in my resource reading class this week since most of my students are either expelled, suspended or on a week-long, school-sponsored field trip. So, my three amigos and I (as we were dubbed by John Cena) went on a little adventure today. We did some beach reading.
They wore their summer's best. We forgot our sunglasses and sunscreen (but I did take the opportunity to laud the benefits of sunscreen. I live in fear of wrinkles). They picked out their reading books and I brought my own, "Guns, Germs and Steel." I brought my (only) two towels and a large sheet. I even made iced tea the night before. We were ready to make our own beach.
We walked to the edge of the mesa, a quarter mile away from the academic building. None of them had ever been to the beach before, so I tried explaining to them what it was like. The sand is usually soft, kind of like the light brown dirt we were laying our towels down on. And you didn't have to kick away the tumbleweed and scrubby grasses. You can hear the soft swish and rumble of the ocean deep in your ears, kind of like how the wind was blowing on the mesa at 30 mph. And everywhere there is blue, from the sky to the sea. They could understand that part a little better. In New Mexico, the bright, blue sky never ceases to stretch. We also happened to be on the side of the mesa that faced the lake. Yes, out of all of mesas I found myself living on, this one has a real body of water by it.
The students and I kicked off our shoes, poured ourselves cups of lukewarm iced tea and lay back on our homemade beachfront property. We faced the sky and the lake and we read our books. I explained that this was the really good part about learning to read: Actually bringing a book somewhere and reading for fun.
At the end, one of the girls turned to me, brimming with excitement. She asked, "Ms. Shyu, you should really take us to the beach. You should just take us home with you!" I just smiled. I thought back to all of the beaches I had ever taken for granted. I know that by teaching, I am (hopefully) empowering my students to attain things like beach vacations on their own. But at that moment, I would have done almost anything to give it to her just for being her.
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