Turn it Off

It was 7 a.m., the first day I entered the classroom in this academic year. I met the students who attended my class the previous year. There was nothing to be introduced as we had known one another. The classroom and its decoration did not change, only the wall had been repainted. We were all ready to start all academic and non-academic activities.

That morning felt hotter than usual. I thought of the air conditioner, maybe it needed a maintenance, or we needed to set the temperature or other settings so that it felt colder. I asked a volunteer to set the temperature. All students replied that we had to turn it off in the first and second periods. We could just open the windows.

We could turn it on at 8.30. Oops...sorry...I didn't know well about this new policy. Finally I found that this policy was made to support an environment-friendly school program.

This condition happens everyday. So far, for about three weeks the students have tried to adapt themselves to this condition. To my surprise, this morning when we were discussing about turning off the air conditioners, a student asked me. She asked,"How about the air conditioners in the teachers' room? Do you turn them off, too?" Oops! I never thought about it...about the air conditioners in the teachers' room, in the administration room, and maybe in the principal's room. As I know, The air conditioners in the teachers' room had been turned on in the morning before the teachers come. The office boys usually come earlier and turn them on.

Dear students, I'm so sorry about this. Tomorrow I will remind my colleagues to look back at this policy.
Dear teachers, let's teach with heart. When our hearts don't want to do it, why we ask our children to do it? Let's do it first with all our hearts, then our children will follow. Hmmm...it leads me to a saying 'monkey see monkey do'...huahahaha....

Fast Track

It was a nice Sunday in April. We - especially the children - had waited that Sunday for a few weeks. We were excited. We were going together...to the adventure theme park. Yes...we would have an adventure.

We set off from school and had about 2 hours travelling by bus until we arrived at the adventure theme park. We were really happy and curious about what rides we could enjoy. After we got the ticket, we entered the park. The children wanted to ride many kinds of rides. 

Yet, it was Sunday, there were so many people going there. As a result, to enjoy the Snake-Coaster the children had to queue up for about 30 minutes. Then we moved to Mega-Drop. There was a long queue at the gate. We tried to be patient. Suddenly, there were some children who went through a different gate. The park management called it 'Fast Track'. What happened there? Some children went through the Fast Track gate and they didn't need to queue up as long as the other visitors. They just waited for about 5 minutes and then they could enjoy the ride soon. After wondering for a while, we found that there was an additional ticket sold as Fast Track ticket, so that those who held the ticket could go without queuing up. We found Fast Track Gate in almost all rides. 
If you've got more money, you can buy Fast Track ticket...if you've got no more money, you queue up!

Is this a kind of bribery??
Teachers and parents, why don't you use this opportunity to teach your children how to fight and survive? 
I still believe that there are noble values in queuing up....

A Simple Surprise

Exams always make the students tired. Tired of preparing. In the last grade of the school, my 9th grade students had some series of exhausting exams. And they did it well. After the exams, they had no more classroom activities. They would come to school only for having the graduation rehearsal and having some photo session for the year book. So when they did not have to go to school, they just stayed at home or spending their leisure time with their friends.

That day, some students went to school to do a special action for their teachers. They had planned, they prepared what they should  bring and do. They asked some friends to join. Some joined but some refused because they would go to the amusement park with their friends. Some refused because they had another activities with their family. Some refused because they were not interested and chose to stay at home.

These students came to school in the morning. They arrived at the time they usually arrived to school. They brought some washing equipment. Yes...they came to wash the cars and motorcycles of their teachers. The teachers and school staff were surprised and gave positive response. They let the students wash their cars and motorcycles. Getting good response, the students were happy...and they did their job cheerfully.

That day was a special day for the teachers and staff. They felt being loved and respected. They were thankful to have such students who cared about them. The students said to me,"There's no present we could give. Only this...just to express that we thank the teachers for teaching us."

Simple thing...and cheap...and not prestigious, when it is done with great love, can please others.
Instead of pleasing themselves, they have chosen the more difficult choice...to please others.
Thank you so much...we're proud of you....

Eat Less, Share More

The students in our school were so enthusiastic. They were celebrating The World Food Day. 

In our school, The World Food Day is celebrated to heighten public awareness of the problem of hunger in the world and strengthen the solidarity for the people who cannot have food as we have.

On that day, the students had a competition of arranging and decorating traditional food from Indonesia. Then they would have lunch together in their own class. Every class had to prepare a kind of traditional food to be eaten together. I walked around, from one class to another, and was glad to see the students preparing the food on the table. They had changed the studying tables into dining tables and they had arranged the food nicely. 

Five students of one class were doing the final preparation. They were arranging the Balinese food completed with certain ornaments about Bali. It was very nice. A few minutes later, they finished. Then, they invited their classmates to come into the classroom. No need to take a long time, they prayed together and started eating. Meanwhile, their homeroom teacher was outside the classroom, having a talk with another teacher. The students focused on their lunch and their togetherness. They didn't care about other people around them. After some time having a talk, the homeroom teacher went away, not coming into the classroom. 

On the way he was going, some students from another class offered him to have lunch with them.

Sometimes, some work and some fail. 

Some classes reached the goal, some classes failed. 

Some classes succeeded to strengthen the solidarity for people around them, while some classes failed.

Some classes remembered people around them when they had got food to eat, while some classes focus on the food for themselves.

For you who have succeeded, congratulations! Keep giving more, taking less. I'm proud of you.

A Simple Good Morning

Not everyday, but I often take my children and their mom to school. Their mom works at their school. To save my time, I usually drop them off not in front of the school, but in front of the cluster. Then they walk. Everytime they walk past the security officers, my wife greets them - just a simple 'good morning'. They just nodded at first. Then, to reply my wife's greeting they smiled. After some greetings, they replied by nodding, smiling and saying good morning.

People learn from what they see, they hear and they feel.
When they can see, hear and feel that they are respected, they also learn how to show and give respect.
Let's DO it, not only tell it. Share your positive energy to others.