Quotes from the Classroom II

The classroom is a place of challenge, learning, growth and achievement. It’s also a place of surprised gasps, amused chuckles and outright laughter. You’ll understand why when you read our favorite student quotes so far this year:

At orientation, a student was asked what his goal was for the next three years at Shepherds College. His response? “To find episode 3,855 of Sesame Street on the internet.”

First-year student staring at an overstuffed washing machine: “Ummm… the washing machine is dancing.” 

During grocery shopping, Home B students were trying to find Large Pasta Shells, but found only medium and jumbo-sized. Miss Pollard asked one of her students if they should purchase the jumbo-sized. He responded, “ARE YOU KIDDING? NOOOO!!! Those things are bigger than road kill!”

Also at the grocery store, a student was caught petting the freezer “fur” in the frozen pizza case. When asked if he thought it was a wise choice, he replied, “No. But you just don’t understand how much I appreciate the feel of it!”

When talking with a student about his dinner selections, Miss Pollard asked if he liked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He thought for a minute, then said, “Yes, as long as you leave the peanut butter off of it.”

Mr. Kasprzak asked a first-year student, “Why do you ask so many questions?”  The student simply replied, “Oh, I just like to know what the heck is going on around here.”

In Chapel, the students were looking at a picture of the time King Nebuchadnezzar was sent out into the field. Mr. Gaschke asked, “Who do you think this is a picture of?” A second –year student called out, “Satan!” Mr. Gaschke barely had the “no” out of his mouth when a first-year student volunteered, “A dirty old mop head?” Mr. Gaschke replied, “Well no, it’s actually King Nebuchadnezzar…” The student quickly responded, “Wow! He really looks like a dried up old mop from the kitchen!”

 

The second-year students were watching The Nativity in their Life of Christ class. The video just revealed that Mary was pregnant when a student piped up, “Who’s her baby daddy?”

Miss Pollard was introducing stories and methods of studying the Bible in her Personal Bible Study class. She said to her students, “Looking at the historical context of a story is so important! Why do you think Jonah ran away from God and found himself in the belly of a whale?” A student shouted out, “Insurance fraud!!!”

An Ai Academy student to Mrs. Cyr at 10:00am: “Is it lunch yet? I’m tired of you.”

A second-year student to Miss Luchterhand: “You can assign me more homework if you need to in order to boost your own ego.”

Student #1 to Student #2: “Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?”
Student #2 with a giggle: “No.”
Student #1: “Well, you are. Despite the glasses, you’re very beautiful.”

Second year student in a classroom journal entry: Mom says if I can’t shave my face then I have no business driving a truck which, in my opinion, is not right on her part.

After shaking Mr. Kolkman’s hand, a student turned to Miss Luchterhand and said, “His hand could keep a soda cold!”

A second-year student was meeting with his Academic Advisor, Miss Pollard, when papers on her desk started avalanching…
Miss Pollard: “Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!”
Student: “I know! I saw this mess on your desk while I was waiting for you, and I thought about taking initiative and helping, but Miss Pollard, I think this is beyond my help.”

Mrs. Kolkman was talking to a student about taking inappropriate initiative:
Mrs. Kolkman: “It’s my door to my office, and I will let you know when you can open it. But you can’t open it until I give you permission.”
Student: “10 more years.”
Mrs. Kolkman: “10 more years for what?”
Student: “10 more years it’s your office.”
Mrs. Kolkman: “What happens after 10 years?”
Student, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back with a smirk: “It’s my office!”
Mrs. Kolkman: “You’re going to take my office in 10 years?”
Student, opening his planner: “Yep! It’s my office and I have paperwork to do… you can go.”

A second year student was getting tired of doing all the writing for a group project. He said, “OK. Enough of my smarty pants. I’m going to let somebody else write.”

And recently, the students in Mrs. Cyr’s Introduction to Christianity class had the staff of Shepherds College tearing up with laughter and other precious emotions:

A student reciting the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the Godfather Almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth.”

“Miss Piatt has a new relative! Pontius Piatt.”

Mrs. Cyr: “What is Jesus doing now?”
Student: “Repainting rooms.”

Mrs. Cyr: “After Jesus went to Heaven, who did God send?”
Student: “You!”

Mrs. Cyr: “What are spiritual disciplines?”
Student: “God’s angels.”

Mrs. Cyr: “What are spiritual disciplines?”
Student: “Spiritual disciplines are the ones who are like the disciples in the Bible. They give out answers – true ones that help you.”

Mrs. Cyr: “What does “faith” mean?”
Student: “To have sensitive through our hearts.”

Mrs. Cyr: “What does “salvation” mean?”
Student: “Immunity to eternal death.”

I don’t know about you, but my cheeks ache from smiling, my heart is filled with gratitude for the love and patience of the teachers God called to this school, and my mind is made up. I don’t care what their medical diagnoses may be, our students are brilliant. They can boot me out of my office any day.

 


Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.

Teacher Tuesday: Quotes for the Workday

Day 16 of the 31 for 21 Challenge

There are days when work is hard.

Like the days when I feel guilty for being a working mom. Days when my husband has a day off and I want to be home with him. Days when it’s too cold or too wet or too cloudy and I want to stay under a blanket all morning.

Or those days when my responsibilities at work outlast my energy.  The days when I’m not sure what I’m doing. And days when my concentration is lacking because my entire mind is filled with thoughts, worries, hopes and prayers about the well-being of my kids.

But on these days, I work anyway. Not because the weather suddenly improved, or my workload lightened, or my worries lifted, but because I reminded myself of why I work at Shepherds College.

A simple verse from the book of Colossians keeps me going:

“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”  Colossians 3:23-24

I work because God has a purpose for me here and the quote is a potent reminder. Even on days when my mind is filled with analytics, media coverage and board reports - like soft background music in a movie, I can hear in my head, “work as to the Lord, work as to the Lord, work as to the Lord…”

The teachers at Shepherds College have jobs so different from my own. Their work directly impacts the days, the minds and the lives of our students. On the scale of jobs ranging in importance from mannequin modeling to brain surgeon, I’d put teachers right next to the guys wielding the scalpels and IVs. 

I wondered, “What types of quotes influence the teachers’ thoughts or actions each day?”

 

“My mom always says, ‘God answers prayers in one of three ways: Yes, No, or Wait.’ This quote reminds me that He is in control.”  Kim Pechous, Residential Life Faculty

 

“’Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.’ Proverbs 3:5-6” Erin Luchterhand, Instructor

Laura Pollard, Instructor, has two quotes that are important to her, “I have a picture of my favorite Bible verse hanging up in my office  - 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10, ‘But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’ It’s a reminder to me daily that His grace is ALL I need, and Jesus is going to use my weaknesses and frailties to minister to my students and those around me because I am strong – not because of anything I have done, but because of who HE is and what HE has done!!

 

Another fabulous quote that I turn to when I’m faced with a situation where I just want to bang my head against a wall, reminds me to just laugh! Mark Twain said it best, ‘Against the onslaught of laughter nothing can stand.’”

Daniel Gaschke, Residential Life Faculty, offered several quotes that help him as he’s working with the students, “Often times people – in an attempt to be helpful, loving and caring – do things for people with disabilities rather than training them how to do it for themselves. At Shepherds College, we seek to teach our students ‘how to fish’ rather than simply ‘giving them a fish.’ Training them – not doing for them – is what will ultimately be most helpful to our students. This quote was attributed to Abraham Lincoln, ‘You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.’

Encouragement that God always is and always does what is ultimately good – even ‘dis’abilities are a part of God’s good design:

‘The Lord said to Moses, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who made him mute, or deaf , or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” ‘Exodus 4:11

“As He went along, He saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.’” John 9:1-3”

Quotes can be powerful. They come from people who have gone through something similar to what you’re going through. They put situations in context and help you find perspective. They can teach, they can guide, and they can remind.

They also say, “I can relate,” so they’re meant to be shared.

Please share your favorite quote with us. It may be just what we need to impact our day as we teach students with intellectual disabilities at Shepherds College.

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.

Teacher Tuesday: Quotes from the Classroom

When Shepherds College was going through the accreditation process, our accreditation team from the North Central Association – Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement, gave us the highest possible rating in the area of Teaching and Assessing for Learning. This achievement was pretty amazing and almost unheard of for a new school – especially one that had to create its own curriculum!

It also tells you something important about us – we take our teaching very seriously.

But, in spite of all the seriousness regarding the quality of our teaching, those goofy moments still manage to sneak into each classroom. Our students can be surprising! They bring us lots of smiles, giggles and laughter. We’d like to share some of the joy with you.  

Our students on Disability:

 

Student: “I’m not feeling well.”

Staff: “What are your symptoms?”

Student: “My mom calls it Down syndrome.”

(The student had the flu…)

“My leg hurts. I think I have ‘jet leg.’”

“The autism is flowing through me.”

Student during her demonstration speech conclusion: “Diabetes comes in handy in many ways.”

“I don’t have a real disability. I have a learning disability.”

“Yeah, I have OCD. That means I can be hot and cold at the same time.”

Our students on Food:

Student talking about the fruit in his refrigerator: “My life’s motto is ‘Squeeze it as hard as you can.’”

“Do you know what caviar is? It’s fish poop.”

“So the pretzels are glutton free?”

Our students on Education:

 

Student scoffing: “This test is not going to be wahooo, it’s only whoop de doo.”

Teacher: “What’s wahooo?”

Student: “Not whoop de doo.”

Teacher: “What’s whoop de doo?”

Student: “This test.”

Teacher: “… can we try to make it wahooo?”

Student: “I don’t think so.”

“I was thinking so hard that I started to sweat.”

Student on his research project of Maine:

“The wabanalis were the first people to welcome the dawn.

In different countries throughout the nations, meaning that we really need to learn different languages every day.

In North America, Christfer Cloumuse descuvered that America had tuns and tuns of gold to make things like watches, rings and even cars.

Many wepons were made from gold, but now we know that history is incredible to Imagene.

The state flag is also used in war.

The native Americans still have tribes that are still trading with the Europeans to day while we notice that we don’t have to take over all the states are being invaded by the other nations that we declare.”

“Mayans had the most precious art of facts.”

“The NIV is too hard to understand, so I’m going to have my mom send me my KJV.”

Our students on independent living:

 

“Shoot! I can lay in bed eating my Coco Puffs.”

“May I use you as a business card?”

“Work is murder.”

Our students who may have to retake their Communications class:

While talking to their teachers –

“You’re getting on my last nerd.”

“You can assign me more homework if you need to in order to boost your own ego.”

And what every woman wants to hear –

“You look nice for a change.”

“A merry heart does good, like medicine …” Proverbs 17:22

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.