Thursday, November 12, 2015
I have decided to look for opportunities to help others and perform one act of kindness each day. I have a very busy life currently. I teach English full time to a wonderful group of 8th graders in Carrollton, Texas. I attend school full time where I am working on a principal certification Master’s and a PhD in Educational Policy and Leadership. I also volunteer each Saturday morning for 8 hours doing work for my church. I get up around 4 am. for that little project and return home around 1pm. I love it and I am so happy to be able to fit this into my life. These things and being a wife, mother, and grandmother keep me pretty busy, but I decided I could change my life just a little in order to do one nice thing each day.
I got a little head start on this project. My students will begin implementing their ideas next week. The are in the planning stages of how they will change the world. I saw a great speech by a university professor entitled “Saving Lives” by Alton Thyrgerson. He decided to prepare himself to rescue people. I was really inspired by his speech and read parts of it to my students to help inspire them. I decided I could look for ways I could help others at least once a day and give assistance where I can.
I will record my experiences in this blog. I have already had some really great opportunities to reach out to others. Sunday I invited a total stranger to Sunday dinner at my house. I always have my kids over for dinner and I met this woman while driving someone to an appointment. She is trying to put her life back together after some not so great choices that landed her in jail and had her children removed from her custody. She is really working hard to get her kids back. I felt impressed to invite her to dinner after talking with her for a few minutes. She accepted. WE had a great time. I’ll call her Linda. I had other experiences with her this week.
Monday I sent an email about a student who is doing well in class. I love doing this and I do not do it often enough. I usually only have time to take care of students who are struggling or failing and emails back to parents who are not happy. I have so many great students that I am going to try harder to make sure their parents know they are doing well.
Tuesday I purchased books for my class library. I love adding fun new books to our library so students can borrow them and read them. It was great fun to support the book fair at school and provide books for my students to enjoy. Maybe I will get to read some of them.
On Tuesday I also volunteered to take another teacher’s duty for Wednesday morning. I have attached a picture. My hair started out looking great, but after almost 30 minutes in the wind and humidity, it was a crazy mess. My students were very kind about not making fun of my scary hair. I also enjoyed helping a teacher who needed someone to fill in for him.
Wednesday I contacted Linda to see if she would be interested in fixing a hole in my wall at home. She is a house painter and fixes drywall for her job. She said she could really use some work and money and I thought this would help her. She does not have a car, so I picked her up and she did the work at my house. She did a great job and I was happy to give her a bonus for a job well done. I plan to make some more holes in my walls for her to come fix.
Thursdays I like to go off campus for lunch. It is often the only time I see the light of day. I gathered up my stuff to do some work at lunch and signed out of the office. I had a fun lunch at Panda Express where I learned that “I would soon be recognized for my accomplishments.” I love fortune cookies! I was feeling good and it was a great day. The weather was so beautiful and I was driving back to school feeling great. Just before my turn off I noticed a woman walking with several grocery bags that looked quite heavy. I turned onto Arbor Creek Road and decided to turn around and ask her if she would like a ride. I had time before classes started. I jumped out of my car and offered her a ride. She accepted. I drove her to the apartments near our school. She was really thankful for the ride.
That is it for this week. I am looking forward to reporting on more things I have done. I love looking for ways to help. The more I look, the more ways I find to help.
I am changing the world one kind deed at a time.
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