Teaching Immigrants And Feeling A Little Like One

I'm sitting here planning a lesson for the Seventh Grade Literature class I teach.  In Literature class, we're about to start reading a story about a Mexican boy and his father who sneak into the U.S.  All of the students in this Literature class are Mexican-American, so they were interested when we started talking about how we're going to be reading this story about immigration. 

As I was just sitting here planning this lesson, I thought of how, so often when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco, Moroccan students would tell me that they wanted to come here to the U.S.  Now that I'm back here in the U.S., I find myself considering the desirability of living in the U.S. from a different vantage point, both for myself and when considering students I teach.  At least one of my current students arrived here in the U.S. a couple of years ago.  I used to teach children who wanted to come to the U.S.  Now I'm teaching students who have made it to the U.S.

As I write this blog entry, I am realizing that I am in somewhat analogous of a position to those of my students who have come here to the U.S.  While there are many significant differences between them and me, nevertheless, like them, I too used to live in another country; I longed to come to the U.S.--in my case, to return to the U.S.--to enjoy living here.  And now, like those of my current students who had wanted to come here from a foreign country, I too came here from a foreign country and am now enjoying the benefits of living here.  And like them, having lived in another country, I can appreciate the blessings of living in the U.S., having the perspective of what it's like to live elsewhere.  Having lived without what I have here in the U.S., now I am much more thankful to God for so many blessings. 

Teaching Highlights in September

Although I've already shared the most significant moments during my experience as an LV (Lasallian Volunteer) from September, I thought I'd share my otherwise most notable moments as an LV from September.  They are as follows.

I decided to do a project where my kids and I would collectively write a letter to a friend of mine who served with me as a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) in Morocco, and who's still serving there as a PCV.  As I was explaining how to write the letter, I explained to the kids why it's good to ask questions when writing a letter.  I explain that people often like being asked questions because it shows you think you have something to learn from them.  I added that it also can reflect humility. 

We wrote the letter to her.  We told her some things about where the school is in Chicago.  We shared with her some of the things the students are learning.  We asked her some questions about her life in Morocco.  A few days later, we got back a response from her.  With her letter, she helped me to teach the kids how to organize a letter, when to start new paragraphs in a letter, and how to start and end a letter.

At my request, she included some pictures of her and her husband in Morocco.  She attached a picture of herself on a hike.  She attached a couple of pictures of dishes of Moroccan food.  She included a photo of her husband with members of their host family.  The Moroccan girls had their heads covered with headscarves.  When the class was looking at this photo, I heard some of the students murmuring.

I explained, "The girls and the women in Morocco always have their heads covered."

"Why?" one girl asked.

"Their religion tells them to do that," I responded.

"That sucks," she said.

I replied, "Can you find a better way to express how you feel about that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, try starting your sentence with 'I,'" I suggested.

"I..." she began, and then trailed off.

I re-approached the question from a different starting point.  "Well, would you want to be expected to do that?"

"No."

Refusing to tell her the exact words to say, I asked, "So, what would your sentence sound like?"

"Oh," she said.  "I wouldn't want to have to do that."

"That sounds much better," I told her.

***

On another day, I enjoyed seeing that same girl use her time well.  During afternoon homeroom, students are writing down their homework for the day, and are otherwise getting ready to leave the school for the day.  After she had finished getting ready to leave for the day, other students were still preparing to leave.  As they were gathering their things, she started using the time to sweep up the classroom.  She hadn't been asked to do so, but just took the initiative to use her time well.

***

We read a couple of short stories in Literature Class in September.  In one of them, called "Seventh Grade" by Gary Soto, a boy in seventh grade pretends to speak French in front of everyone in French class to try to impress a girl he likes.  The French teacher knows he can't speak French.  Yet after class, the girl compliments him on his French as the teacher is standing there.  He hopes that the teacher won't expose him as a fraud, thinking that he'll do anything that the teacher wants, having learned his lesson not to bluff like he had done.  In the end, the teacher does not let the girl know.

We talked about the theme of the short story.  We discussed that one should be honest and that God always wants us to tell us the truth.  I added that even though you might not do something as well as you'd like, you should learn from your mistakes, and that next time you can do it better.  As I was saying those words in front of the class, feeling like I didn't know how to teach, that I was often making mistakes as I taught, I wondered, "For whom is this lesson being given?"  

First Day Of School

Today was the first day of school at the Catholic middle school where I'm teaching on the south side of Chicago.  At times last week I was so anxious about this coming school year that I literally wouldn't have wished such feelings on my worst enemy.  With the goals of not having a cerebral hemorrhage and not having a heart attack, last Friday night I prayed in earnest and consequently, I tremendously calmed down.

Thus, all things considered, I was relatively calm today.  I woke up at 5:15 a.m. and read the Bible for an hour as usual.  Later I wheeled the garbage bins out to the curb, since that's one of the tasks assigned to me here in the faith-based community in which I'm living with some of the Brothers of the Christian Schools.   Next I sat down to a bowl of cereal in the kitchen.  At 7:00 a.m., the Brothers and I gathered for morning prayer, as we do every weekday.

After morning prayer, I gathered my things and headed for the door.  As I walked through the living room, my fellow community members wished me well on my first day.  I walked out the door.  I stood on the stoop and I realized I didn't have the keys to the car.  I turned around and headed back into the house.

As I entered the living room, one of those same community members asked me, "How was it?"

I replied, "I figured out that I'm not going anywhere without the keys to the car!"  I headed back upstairs to my room, retrieved the car keys, and I was on my way.  I had an uneventful 15-minute drive on surface streets from the house to the school.

Arriving at the school, I had a fairly mellow entrance into the classroom.  The other teachers and I had spent all of last week preparing our classrooms and reviewing school procedures, so we were ready for today.

At 8:20, the kids stopped exercising in the gym, as they lined up in preparation to head upstairs for school.  We walked the students upstairs and into the classrooms.

I'm teaching 7th Grade.  One of my fellow teachers, Mark, will be teaching Math, Social Studies, and Religion.  Another of my fellow teachers, Alison, will be teaching Science.  I'll be teaching Literature as well as Writing.  The entire 7th Grade, which is composed of 30 students, roughly equal numbers of boys and girls, is seated in one classroom. 

Once we got the 7th graders seated in the classroom, we began our day.  For the most part we reviewed procedures with them today.  We also helped them to get to know us in easygoing fun ways.  First Mark, Alison and I introduced ourselves.

After some brief announcements, I reminded the students the format of morning prayer together.  Almost all of the 7th graders attended this school last year, so they have been very familiar with morning prayer at the school.  As in all Lasallian gatherings, a prayer session begins with the prayer leader beginning, "Let us remember..." and the rest of those present completing the sentence by praying aloud, "...that we are in the holy presence of God."

Next a prayer, or prayers, of various lengths are said, usually out loud.  I noted to the students that those prayers in the middle of the prayer session could be the same as the ones said the preceding day, or they could be different ones.  I added that the important thing was that whatever one prays, it should be heartfelt and prayed with sincerity, since Jesus reminded us of the importance to pray earnestly.

After those prayers, the prayer leader begins, "Saint John Baptist de la Salle..." and the others present ask that saint, "Pray for us."  At this school, next the prayer leader begins, "San Miguel..." and the others implore that saint, "Pray for us."  Finally the prayer leader begins, "Live, Jesus, in our hearts..." and the other persons pray aloud, "Forever," finishing the prayer session. 

After our morning prayer, we had the students play a game to get to know us better.  We gave them sheets with grids on them.  Each square contained a fact about one of us.  However, the students had to determine, or to guess, which of us each fact described.  We gave them 20 minutes to work in groups collaborating to decide who they thought each fact described.  As I was circulating around the room, greatly enjoying watching the students trying to ascertain which of us teachers was the subject of each square, more than once I thought of saying to the other various adults in the room, "I think I might be enjoying this activity more than they are!"  I was anonymously described on the sheets as one who has "eaten goat" (which I did when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco), as one who has been to Iceland, as one who has worked in a McDonald's, as one who used to collect postage stamps, and as one who is the youngest of three children. 

Then Mark reviewed with the kids the system of "classroom economy."  We're continuing a system which has been used in years past at the school through which kids, by behaving well, can earn classroom currency, which they can then redeem for various benefits, including getting to listen to music while reading, or getting to eat at certain times when they normally wouldn't be eating.

Next Alison reviewed classroom procedures with the students.  First she had them read the policies.  Then she had them gather in groups and work together to determine the right answer to questions as she quizzed them.  I enjoyed seeing her transform what otherwise probably would have been a dry, boring activity for the kids into one which energized them with the motivation of competing against each other, and had them scrambling to find the right answer. 

Soon after that, we had the kids taking reading tests to gauge their reading level, and to check to see if their reading level had changed over the summer.  When the kids weren't taking the reading tests, I was helping them find books to read in the school library based on their reading levels from last school year.  I recommended the book "Tuesdays With Morrie" to a couple of kids, and both of them decided to read that book.  I'm excited to be placed at this school because the kids read for well over an hour during each school day.  

At the end of the morning, Mark ran a session on how we can build community in the classroom.  He directed the students to answer a number of questions on paper about how they would like to be treated, how they imagine we as teachers would like to be treated, and about the importance of rules, and about which specific rules are important to follow.  I was most pleased to see that students had written that an important rule is to treat others as you would like done unto you, as Jesus directs us to do.  I'm also thrilled to be teaching at this school since it instills these true Christian ethics in students. 

In the early afternoon, the school day came to an end.  The first day of a trimester at our school is always a half day.  Thus, the students headed home in time for lunch.  I'm further grateful to be teaching at this school since 98% of the students qualify for the government's free and reduced cost lunch.  I'm happy to be trying to help teach impoverished children, to be trying to help poor folks, as Jesus taught us to do.

I'm glad to be trying to live my faith in my everyday life, including in my work.  I'm grateful for this opportunity for so many reasons.  I cherish the opportunity to serve, especially to serve those who don't have a lot.  I feel such fulfillment in helping people who are struggling.  As I help others, especially those who are disadvantaged, I feel such joy inside myself.  I'm so thankful that I'm helping impoverished children in a classroom.  It looks like it's going to be a wonderful school year. 

No Greater Aspiration In My Life

On the day when Lasallian Volunteer (LV) Orientation ended, we all had a free night to do as we pleased.  Most, if not all, of us LVs headed into Chicago for the evening.  One of the LV staff members had arranged an opportunity in Chicago for those of us LVs who were interested to participate in trapeze activities.  I joined her so I could try trapeze!

I signed up to do trapeze because of some elucidation on trapeze which I had heard a couple of months earlier.  I heard this insight when I had attended a three-day workshop on the Catholic writer Henri Nouwen's interpretation of Rembrandt's painting of the Return of the Prodigal Son.  Nouwen's literary executrix, Sue Mosteller, who also lived at L'Arche Daybreak, the faith-based community in which Nouwen had lived, presented the workshop.  Since she had lived in the same community as Nouwen for years while he was there, she got to know him, his musings and his writings fairly well.

During the workshop, Sue shared how Nouwen became mesmerized by trapeze, the art of swinging through the air, leaping forward and being caught by someone else also swinging through the air.  He concluded that the people who leap toward each other and who catch each other symbolize us and God in our relationship with each other.  Sue explained how Nouwen concluded that the truly remarkable party in the trapeze is not the one who leaps, but rather the one who catches, since the one who catches is analogous to God.  She said that just as one person leaps in the trapeze act, trusting the catcher, we too must make leaps of faith, trusting in God.

When I heard Sue's explication of Nouwen's trapeze philosophy, she delivered words which had a profoundly transformative effect on me.  Up until the workshop, in my life I had still been clinging to personal property which I no longer needed.  I hadn't felt able to bring myself to sell the car I owned, even though I had just been living abroad while in the Peace Corps in Morocco for two years, and thus hadn't been driving it for those years.  I hadn't given it up although after my return from Morocco, I'd been staying with family and friends who either had their own cars they were letting me use and/or who lived in areas with great public transportation.  I'd felt that I couldn't let go of it despite how I knew that as an LV, I'd be living in a community where I knew I'd have access to cars I could drive.  In short, even though my life already was one in which I didn't need a car, indeed although my life had changed years earlier into a life in which I didn't need a car, I still wasn't accepting that reality.  I was living in fear, fear that I couldn't sell the car since I might end up needing it at an undetermined--and increasingly unlikely--point in the future.  I wasn't acknowledging the need to get rid of it and trust in God to take care of my needs.  Yet when I heard Sue explain that, like the one who leaps in the trapeze act, we must take the leap of faith and trust in God, my spirit shifted.  I realized that I had to sell the car and trust that God would satisfy my transportation needs.

Having been inspired by Nouwen's conception of the trapeze as a metaphor for our relationship with God and how we must trust in Him, I was interested in actually trying trapeze.  Having only conceptualized trapeze as a spiritual metaphor, I wanted to try it so I would be able to turn it over as a spiritual analogy in my mind in the context of actually having tried it.  I knew that by physically swinging through the air and feeling the associated physiological sensations and the emotional effects produced in me by leaping, swinging, and reaching from the trapeze bar, I would be able to consider it from first-hand knowledge. 

Thus I signed up to try trapeze.  The folks running the trapeze spot were quite pleasant.  That helped!  It also helped a little bit that the trapeze folks operate in a park close to the shore of Lake Michigan, a beautiful outdoor location. 

Once we had gotten harnesses attached to us, and gotten the latches on the ends of ropes clicked into the harnesses on us, each of us took turns climbing to the top of the trapeze platform.  Generally I am unbothered by heights.  But under certain conditions I start to get a little nervous.  In this case, we were climbing one of those metal ladders which extends to potentially double its length.  Thus I wasn't worried about it coming apart, but it just didn't stay exactly still as I stepped on it.  So I climbed a bit slowly up to the trapeze platform, which I finally reached.

The fellow on the platform told me not to worry, that the ladder was firmly bolted into both the deck on the ground and into the trapeze platform.  That eased my mind, as did the net which more than adequately lay under all of the space in which I would be swinging.  Still, I was a little apprehensive standing up on the trapeze platform, perhaps 25 feet above the ground.  He assured me that I would be fine if I followed his instructions, which I did.  He took off the ropes which had secured me when I had been climbing, and attached new ones which would secure me after I leaped from the platform.  He told me to use my left hand to hold onto a metal frame on the platform.  Then he told me to step forward and put all ten toes just slightly over the edge of the platform!  He had me grab the trapeze bar with my right hand as I continued holding with my left hand onto the metal frame on the platform.  Then he was holding onto me and leaning backward.  Despite this secure arrangement, I found it difficult to ignore my instincts, which were kicking in and setting alarms off in my head as he told me to lean forward and grab the rest of the trapeze bar with my left hand.  Eventually I did so.  Then he told me to take, as he put it, a little bunny leap off of the platform.

I took a little leap and voila, I was flying through the air!  As each of us hung from the platform bar, the staff gave us instructions on what to do.  They tell someone hanging from the bar by their hands to swing their knees up to the bar when they're at the end of their swing because that's when someone is the lightest.  Thus it's easiest to get your knees up and over the bar at that very moment.  I tend to lag a bit with verbal instructions; that is, it takes me a little while to process what people say to me.  Thus, it proved a little difficult for me to get my knees above the trapeze bar.  Although I'm a bit slow when I listen, I did get it, and I got my knees over the bar.  When I swung back to the other end, they had me let go of the bar, so that I was then hanging from the bar upside down by my knees!  Then they told me to stretch out my arms toward Lake Michigan.  Now, I don't know about you, but when I'm upside down, I'm rather disoriented.  I was putting out my arms in front of me, but they wanted me to thrust my arms in back of me.  They tried a different way of phrasing it: they told me to put my arms toward the net.  That did it!  I was reaching out my arms just as I was supposed to do!  On the way back, when I swung to the end, they had me grab the bar with my hands.  At the other end, they had me swing my knees down, then they had me let go, and down to the net I fell.

We each got to practice this routine a few times.  That helped!  It helps to practice being upside down, getting one's knees over a trapeze bar, and swinging from one knees, when one has never done it! 

Last we got to try leaping and getting caught by a catcher who was also swinging from a trapeze bar.  Here, though, I wasn't just jumping off the trapeze platform whenever I wanted.  The catcher was swinging on his own trapeze bar, on the far side of the net.  Once I was in position on the platform, he'd shout, "Ready!"  That word was my cue to bend my knees and be ready to jump.  Then he'd shout, "Hup!"  That word was the cue to jump.  Since he precisely timed his shout, it was crucial immediately to jump.  One can't hesitate, or else one will be late in arriving at the spot where the catcher can catch you.

Once he had shouted, "Hup!" I jumped right away!  Reaching the far end, knees up and over the bar.  Back at the end next to the platform, hands down.  Then one has to reach out...  I put out my arms...  Yet I was disoriented, as happens to me when I'm hanging upside down by my knees from a trapeze bar!  Yet without anyone yelling any correction to me, I self-corrected and stretched my arms out wide...  but because I had initially reached in the wrong direction, I had thrown off my momentum.  When I then tried to reach toward the catcher, and when we reached the point when we were closest to each other, we were too far apart from each other for him to catch me.  Later I saw a picture of the catcher and me reaching toward each other.  Perhaps our hands were a foot apart.

Despite not being caught, I was pleased that when I dropped from the bar, at least I successfully did a back flip on my way down to the net.  Again, it is critical to let go when one is at the end of one's swing.  Then one is the lightest.  Thus when one lets go at that moment, one is best positioned to do a back flip. 

One must know what one is doing to be able to do trapeze well.  The LV staff member who arranged the trapeze opportunity for us is quite skilled at trapeze.  We saw her complete some talented feats up in the air, including propping herself up so that she was sitting with her legs wide open on the trapeze bar!

However, not only is she skilled at actually flying trapeze, but she is also skilled at taking analogous leaps.  In some fitting symbolism, she has since moved on from working for Lasallian Volunteers.  She left her familiar job at Lasallian Volunteers, taking the leap to take a new job, which also entails moving to a new city, to try something new.   

We are called to make leaps of faith in our lives, in the choices we make.  We are called to give up things in our lives which have proven to be obsolete or which otherwise hold us back, whether they be possessions, or opinions, or unhealthy emotions such as anger, greed, sluggishness or pride.  We are drawn to let go of the ego which controls us, to forget about an insult someone has made against us.  We are asked to make the leap of faith to give someone the benefit of the doubt, to figure that perhaps he or she truly was in the right, and to forgive him or her during a disagreement.  We are invited to make such leaps into unknown territory which makes us vulnerable and uncomfortable and unsettled, because in doing so we stand to improve ourselves, to evolve into more advanced, caring, understanding, loving, compassionate, kind human beings, drawing closer to the ideal which Jesus set for us.  Once we finally do make such leaps, we will feel far better than we do clinging to our fear, which would have us remain standing on the platform for days, weeks, months or years, which would control us to our own detriment, both directly to ourselves and indirectly to ourselves through the unfortunate effects our fear has on our relationships with others.  Once we take the leap to love our neighbor, we will also love ourselves and God more.  

As far as I am concerned, I do sincerely hope that I am as good at taking leaps as God wants me to be.  I have no aspiration greater than this in my life. 

Orientation Part Three: Gratitude For Blessings

At Lasallian Volunteer (LV) Orientation at Lewis University during the last ten days of July, as LVs we had sessions on numerous topics.  Staff reviewed with us the organization's policies and procedures, with which we must comply as LVs.  One of the Brothers of the Christian Schools educated us about the life, work and times of Saint John Baptist de la Salle, who founded the order of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, the order which in turn founded the staff organization named Lasallian Volunteers, which administers the LV program.  Later we were reminded of the many types of work which the Brothers perform in dozens of countries on five continents.  We went to multiple sessions during which we were trained in the tasks we will be doing as LVs, whether it be teaching, tutoring, working in campus ministry, doing social work, or serving in other ways.  Facilitators led us through discussions about social justice and about various kinds of diversity.  The presenter of one session spoke with us about becoming familiar with the neighborhoods in which we'll be living as LVs.  We received tips about beginning to live in community with others, in the intentionally faith-based community houses where we'll be living as LVs.  Insofar as we'll be living in community which is faith-based, we also received guidance on how to lead prayer sessions, a responsibility which generally all of us will have at multiple points during our service as LVs.

Since Lasallian Volunteers is a Catholic organization, and since it was founded by the Brothers, which is a Catholic order, and since it is affiliated with Catholic schools, the priest at Lewis University facilitated a session during which he fielded questions about the Catholic Mass.  While many LVs are Catholic, some are Protestant Christians.  Others might not identify with any particular denomination of Christianity.  Thus not all LVs are familiar with the Catholic Mass from having attended Mass for years.

By the end of the session during which the priest was answering questions about Mass, I was wondering if some LVs were not enthusiastic about attending Mass despite their Christian heritage.  Although we had already gone at least a few minutes longer than scheduled, and although we were thus overdue to head to the campus cafeteria for lunch, I raised my hand.  Acknowledging the time, I succinctly said that, as many of my fellow LVs already knew, at the end of last year, I finished living in an overwhelmingly Muslim country for two years: I had been living in Morocco in the Peace Corps.  I added that while I was living there, often I wasn't able to attend Mass, and consequently greatly missed spiritual community with other Christians.  I explained that when I returned to the U.S. and attended Mass, I felt so comforted by the spiritual community I felt by the other people singing around me in church that I began to cry out of gratitude for what I hadn't had, and for which I was now so grateful.  I pointed out that so often, we think nothing of singing in church, yet it can be profoundly supportive to others.  I suggested that they meditate upon these thoughts. 

The next day, late in the afternoon on Saturday, the priest said Mass for us in the chapel on campus there at Lewis University.  During communion, the hymn being sung was an adaptation of the Prayer of Peace, which is widely attributed to St. Francis, and which in this case was set to music.  For those of you who think you might not know it, the original prayer reads:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

I have appreciated this prayer for quite some time.  I find its message to be profoundly important, actually crucial, for spiritual development.

As I've noted, since living in Morocco, where I often did not enjoy spiritual community with other Christians, I have very much appreciated hearing other Christians sing when I go to church now.  Thus I certainly appreciated my fellow LVs as they sang the hymn version of the Prayer of Peace.

Yet not only hearing fellow Christians, but more specifically my fellow LVs, with whom I share a passion for helping not just poor persons, but impoverished youths, sing this hymn therefore affected me on additional levels.  Yet, knowing that they also share with me the aspiration to the ideals expressed in the hymn, goals which are demanding, in service of others, I was further comforted by this additional level of spiritual community with them.

They were singing the hymn softly and sweetly, a soft, comforting melody.  In their gentle, soothing tone, they auditorily aspired to the humility, modesty and care which the hymn expresses.  Knowing that I was surrounded by others who value this approach of serving others in life at one's own expense, I began to weep, in gratitude for the treasure, privilege and honor of being in their company.  Having sojourned alone many days in the past, I have so cherished the fellowship and support of those who share my values and ideals, as I did especially at that moment.  I saw my fellow LVs in that moment even more vividly than I had before, as the blessings which they truly are to me and to others.  I am blessed.  Thank you, God. 

Site Visit

After I accepted the invitation to become a Lasallian Volunteer (LV), the Director of Lasallian Volunteers called me to discuss my site preferences with me.  After accepting the invitation, before we spoke again on the phone, I had a few days to think about what I wanted to get out of the program.  Thus I felt that I had gathered my thoughts enough to be able to explain well to the Director the kind of experience I hoped to have as an LV.

I considered the Brothers of the Christian Schools, the religious order which founded the Lasallian Volunteer program.  The Brothers have taken vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to God.  However, they don't live in monasteries.  They live in houses much like anyone else does, yet they live in Christian faith-based community with each other, sharing prayer and fellowship together.  Given how I've enjoyed spending time with people who have consecrated their lives to God, I told the LV Director that I had a very strong preference to live in a community with the Brothers.  I want to see what it's like living as the Brothers do, rather than live in a community composed solely of LVs, as a small number of LVs do.

I also told the LV Director that although I had indicated on my application that my first choice would be to teach ESL (English As A Second Language), I had thought further about work positions and had decided that my first choice would be to serve as a high school teacher, and that my second choice would be to serve as a middle school teacher.  Since I had interviewed to be an LV, I had thought about how in a previous job, I had expressed uncertainty about my ability to do certain tasks well, which had led my supervisor at the time to say to me, "Don't give me that Scarecrow from 'The Wizard Of Oz' routine!"  After I had interviewed to be an LV, I had started applying that advice from my former supervisor, trying to shed my uncertainty, and instead telling myself that I was able to teach high school or middle school. 

As the weeks after the interview passed, the LV Director contacted me from time to time to update me on the process of selecting a site for me.  At one point, she contacted me and informed me that the site selection process had narrowed the options for my site down to three possibilities. 

A short time thereafter, she informed me that the principal of a middle school in Chicago soon would be contacting me.  Within a week or so, perhaps in the middle of April, the principal called me.  We had a pleasant conversation, which I took as a good sign.  He told me that he would be in touch with me. 

At the end of April, he invited me to come visit the school.  He asked me when and for how long I would like to visit.  I told him that I wanted to visit the school as soon as possible for a few days.  He purchased the tickets and less than a week later, I was flying to Chicago in early May. 

I landed at O'Hare in the afternoon and took the subway's blue line into the city.  The principal had arranged it so that a teacher picked me up from a stop on the blue line to drive me to the community house.  In the small world in which we live, as we chatted in the car, we found that one of his best friends had served with me in the Peace Corps in Morocco over the last couple of years! 

I enjoyed my stay at the community house.  Two LVs in their first year of service, Whitney and Megan, had been living in the house thus far during their year of service.  At the end of their first year of service, during this summer, they moved to the other community house which is across the alley separating the two houses.  They'll live there during the second year of their service, that is to say, for the next 12 months.  I enjoyed talking with Whitney and Megan, who are very friendly and happily answered my questions about serving as LVs and about living in the community. 

The first thing in the morning, at 7:00 a.m., the Brothers, Whitney, Megan and I gathered for morning prayer.  We read aloud together out of the Shorter Book Of Christian Prayer, reading mostly Psalms, and at times other Scripture passages as well. 

After the brief morning prayer of about 15 minutes, most members of the community gathered for breakfast in the dining room.  There's a fair supply of cereals, as well as oatmeal, toast, English muffins, and coffee to be had in the house. 

At the community house, we also gathered for evening prayer.  Technically it is late afternoon prayer, given that we met for evening prayer at 5:00 p.m.  Evening prayer is substantially similar to morning prayer. 

Immediately following evening prayer, we shared dinner together in the dining room.  One night during my visit, we had gumbo! 

During my site visit, when I wasn't at the house, most of the time I was at the school.  I had a long enough site visit that I was able to spend three full days at the school.  It's a small school, only serving kids in grades 6, 7 and 8.  There are only about 28 students in each grade, so that each grade is entirely contained in its own classroom.  The vast majority of the pupils are of Mexican heritage.  Well over 90 percent of them qualify for free or reduced-cost lunch.  Given that the school serves so many poor children, I had been looking forward to going to the school. 

From the moment I stepped onto the floor on which the school is located, even before meeting any of the staff or students, I had a good feeling.  Then once I started meeting the children and teachers and other staff, I felt even more comfortable and excited to be there.  The kids are fairly well-behaved and are exceptionally respectful.  I found the teachers and other staff to be friendly and happy to answer any questions I had. 

Once the school day got started, I got to see first-hand how each student reads 90 minutes each day, a practice I think is wonderful.  The principal had me sit with individual students who were reading, confirming their accurate pronunciations when they seemed uncertain, encouraging them, and correcting some of their mistakes as they read. 

The principal also asked me to teach the 8th grade religion class one afternoon so he could see how I would interact with the students.  Since the students were about to start learning about Pentecost, I decided to teach about Pentecost, when God sent the Holy Spirit down upon the Apostles.  I started off the lesson asking the kids what types of events worry them, and how they react to such events.  Then I asked the students how the Apostles felt right after Jesus had been crucified.  A student replied that the Apostles were worried.  I had a student read the Bible verses in which Jesus had assured His Apostles that He would send the Holy Spirit upon them.  Then I asked for a half dozen volunteers.  I had the six or so students come to the front of the class and they and I took turns reading aloud as we made our way through the second chapter of the book of the Acts of the Apostles, in which Luke the Evangelist recounts how God indeed sent the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, strengthening them and enabling them to do great things.  After we had finished reading from the Bible, I referenced and called upon the Scripture passage to illustrate how God wants us to trust in Him, and that when we do, we are empowered to do great things for Him. 

After the class, a teacher asked me how the lesson went.  The principal happened to be passing us at that moment.  I deferred to him.  I responded, "You'll have to ask him."  I was glad to hear that he was pleased with my teaching style, how I involved the students in the lesson, and how I handled unexpected occurrences during the lesson.  He noted that in my interactions with students, it helps how I speak with energy and show animated facial expressions, tendencies which I hadn't considered as being helpful when I teach. 

While I was glad to hear that the principal had been pleased with my teaching style, I was still concerned about being able to teach well.  Thankfully, he gave me a couple of fantastic books to read, "The Essential 55" by Ron Clark and "Teach Like A Champion" by Doug Lemov.  After reading them in May, June and July, I recommend them both, as they contain very helpful tips about teaching.  In the first book, Clark tends to focus on getting kids into the right mindset for school, both for studying well and for behaving well both in and out of school.  Lemov shares his observations of how outstanding teachers convey knowledge and cultivate reasoning skills, and also how they manage their classrooms well.  I found both books to be insightful; after reading both of those books, I'm less anxious about teaching.

I'm excited about the coming school year.  I'm looking forward to teaching.  And more specifically, I'm glad that I'm going to be teaching at a school where poor children attend.  I'm also glad to have co-workers who share my Christian faith and who are trying to express their faith by caring for others, especially those who don't have a lot.  I'm happy to be trying to live my faith, being supported by those who share it and hopefully supporting them too. 

Invitation To Become A Lasallian Volunteer

In March this year, my first-choice volunteer program, Lasallian Volunteers, accepted me. Yet I feel I should back up to give some context of how I came to apply to be a Lasallian Volunteer.

When I was living in Morocco and working there as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the field of Youth Development from 2010 to 2012, I experienced spiritual changes which helped me gain clarity about the kind of life I want to live. While I lived in Morocco, I had a lot of free time. I tried to make good use of my copious spare time, using it to read the entire Old Testament, then the entire New Testament, then all of the Old Testament Apochrypha. I also gradually read all of "The Imitation Of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis, which many feel is the most treasured text in Christianity after the Bible.

Amongst the other Christian writings I read while I was in Morocco, I read "Celebration Of Discipline" by Richard Foster, as well as the accompanying study guide which Foster also wrote. In those books, Foster discusses spiritual disciplines which can help place one before God, which can help focus on God, which can help one commune with God, including prayer, study, meditation, fasting, simplicity, solitude, community, worship, celebration and service. As I read these books, I came to realize that Foster was describing elements of my life at that point in Morocco which I had been enjoying.

Of course I had been enjoying serving impoverished persons through my work as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I had long found fulfillment from helping poor people in a variety of ways, so it came as no surprise that I found satisfaction from serving poor persons whilst in the Peace Corps. 

I had been living simply as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I didn't miss the paycheck I used to earn as a lawyer, nor did I miss the possessions I had shed just before moving to Morocco. Indeed, as I progressed in my Peace Corps service, and came to rid myself of more property, I grew to want to give away even more possessions. Not only did I want to live even more and more simply, I wanted to do so as I simultaneously knew that to do so is an attempt to practice a spiritual discipline.

Before I had read Foster's writings on the spiritual disciplines, I had known in a general sense that the spiritual disciplines present worthwhile spiritual practices. After reading Foster's books, I came to be aware of why they are helpful to one's spiritual development. I further became aware of their importance in my life, and how they relate to each other. I appreciated his exposition on the spiritual disciplines, since upon reading his writings, I was better able to organize my thoughts regarding my spiritual journey and the facets of my life which I hoped to retain in my life once I left Morocco.

Soon after reading these two volumes by Foster, I read Thomas Merton's autobiography, "The Seven Storey Mountain," in which Merton describes how he came to be a Trappist monk. It occurred to me that as a monk, one can live a life of service, and also of solitude, yet also of community, a life which is especially conducive to prayer, meditation and study of The Word Of God.

Accordingly, once I left Morocco, I visited monasteries on my way back to the USA. I enjoyed my stays at Glenstal Abbey and at Mount Saint Joseph Abbey in Ireland. Even moreso I enjoyed my stay at Belmont Abbey in the United Kingdom. There I stayed inside the abbey with the monks for a week, unlike how I had stayed in the guesthouses at the monasteries in Ireland.  From those monastery visits, I found that I enjoyed the company of persons who have chosen to live their lives consecrated to God. 

After having invested my extensive free time in reading which helped me to identify the kind of spiritual life I wanted to live, and after having stayed at and otherwise visited monasteries, I arrived back in the USA in late November 2012 intentionally looking for specific kinds of opportunities to serve others. During my time in Morocco, I enjoyed spiritual community with other expatriate Christians who were also living in Morocco. I would meet up with them for Bible study, sometimes as often as once a week. I cherished the fellowship we shared as we supported each other in our faith as Christians. As much as I enjoyed the fellowship with them, I also knew that I needed more spiritual community than weekly Bible study sessions. I concluded that I wanted to live in a Christian faith-based community. Thus, I arrived back in the USA seeking opportunities to serve poor persons while living simply as a member of a Christian faith-based community, perhaps as a member of a volunteer program.

Although I started looking for such opportunities about a week after I arrived back in the USA, initially I could not find them. I searched intermittently for brief periods for such opportunities, not consistently searching for them partly because I was especially occupied given that Christmas was soon approaching. Even though I had not been persistently looking for these volunteer programs, by the time New Year's Eve arrived, I was starting to despair that I would not be able to find a way to continue serving poor persons while living simply in a Christian faith-based community.

Then right around New Year's Eve, while doing an Internet search, I found the website www.catholicvolunteernetwork.org. On that website, I found numerous opportunities to volunteer. I found full-time options and part-time options. I found chances to volunteer abroad or in many states in the USA. I found programs offering positions where one could teach, be a social worker, volunteer in a soup kitchen, and serve in many other ways. I found programs where volunteers work in connection with friars and sisters. I found programs where volunteers could get health insurance, room and board, and modest living stipends. In short, I found so many volunteering possibilities that I had to start prioritizing which programs were most appealing to me.

Soon I had developed a list consisting of a few tiers of programs with progressively later deadlines. I applied to the first three programs at the top of my list. I filled out long applications with dozens of questions which called for short answers. I asked former work supervisors, pastors and a co-worker to write recommendations for me. Once I had submitted the applications, I began to wait.

After perhaps a couple of weeks, I heard back from Lasallian Volunteers, which was my top choice. They wanted to interview me! I was glad to get this news. I knew that Lasallian Volunteers was a staff organization which was founded by the Brothers of the Christian Schools to run a nationwide network of volunteers. I knew that Lasallian Volunteers places volunteers in positions where they serve impoverished youths, often in educational settings. I wanted to teach. I had enjoyed teaching as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco. When I was applying to the Peace Corps, I enjoyed being a teacher's assistant to a teacher who was teaching ESL (English As A Second Language), and I also enjoyed tutoring people in ESL during that same period. When I was a lawyer, I always enjoyed educating people about the law, which had led me to want to teach in the Peace Corps. So I was excited to interview for a chance to become a Lasallian Volunteer (LV), since I knew that as an LV, I could probably not only teach, but also be a teacher for poor kids. And I was excited to interview to be an LV since LVs live in Christian faith-based community, most of them with Brothers of the Christian Schools.

In preparing for the interview, I learned about Saint John Baptist de la Salle, who founded the religious order known as the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He was a French priest who lived from 1651 to 1719, who did much to further education. While preparing for the interview, I read about middle schools and high schools affiliated with the Brothers, schools which are often called Lasallian schools, and which serve impoverished youths. I also read about other types of sites where LVs serve, including educational centers, a family therapy center, and a retreat center. I also read about the array of positions in which LVs serve, including in the position of teacher, tutor, social worker, campus minister, recreational activity leader, retreat facilitator, and development assistant. On the Lasallian Volunteers website, I also read about LVs who were serving. In all that I read, I got a positive impression of the LV program. As I read LVs' blog entries, I could tell that LVs are happy. As the interview neared, more and more I wanted to become an LV.

The interview lasted over an hour and a half. The interviewer asked me a variety of questions, which tended to revolve around faith, service and community, the main pillars on which the LV program is based. After the interview, I wanted to be an LV even more.

In the days after the interview, I tried to busy myself as I wondered about the status of my application. After a couple of weeks, which seemed much longer, I got word that I was invited to be an LV!  I promptly accepted the invitation to be an LV.  I was happy that I had found a way to continue serving impoverished people, while living simply and living in Christian faith-based community.  I was set to take the next steps on my spiritual journey!