Thursday, January 30, 2014

Sometimes it Rains Rice

Sometimes it Rains Rice

Today, I taught about onomatopoeia.  Say it three times ... my students like to!  It's a big word, but fun to say, and a fun literary technique to use in writing.  Splish, splash, ow, squiggle, sigh, ...

Well, I had planned all sorts of fun ways to explore onomatopoeia ... kinesthetic, partner work, mini white boards, and I even incorporated a popular app game.  I also used sound jugs.  They are old plastic coffee cans, with various objects in them.  Each group came up to shake a sound jug for the rest of the class.  The seated students would then write an onomatopoeia for the sound they heard on their white boards.  So, for example, there was a jug with coins in it, and students wrote "chchchch", "clink", "clank", and so on.  When the group for sound jug #3 came up, they all each took a big shake on this one.  When, all of a sudden, the lid comes off and it is raining rice!

Oh, did I mention that an administrator was in the room too?

Well, instead of "shshshsh" or "swish", we wrote "WHOA"!  And I jokingly said, "Hey, that was my lunch!"  

I had spent days on this lesson, preparing it, and the materials associated with it.  The best laid plans, with much preparation and focus on detail, sometimes just do not happen.  Sometimes it rains rice.  And, that is okay.   I did not care that the rice was everywhere, and I did not care that it was not part of my "perfectly" laid out plan.  I like to think that it was supposed to happen.  It gave us a laugh and it was a teachable moment.  It certainly won't be anything that I will ever forget.  And, I hope my students won't either ... I hope the word "onomatopoeia", and what it means, sticks in their heads.  Even, if they are still picking rice out of their hair.

It is so true of our lives ... we lay down the best plans.  Try to prepare.  Try to be in control all of the time (at least this is what I have tried to do).  

My husband's cancer diagnosis was not part of our plan.  But, we can use this unexpected situation - this raining rice that seems to be everywhere - as a way to seek joy, have teachable moments (I still am learning), and to know that I am not in control.  God is with us when the rice rains, when the plans seems unclear to us, guiding and loving us to where we need to be to fulfill our purposes.

Reflection Verses:

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.   Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

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