Edit: Anna Webb did pass away, and while many of us at the school were sad, we knew it was for the best, and it doesn't make the feelings in this post any less relevant or legitimate.
Last week a Year 12 girl at our school, Anna Webb, was in a car accident. She was rushed to hospital, then rushed to Brisbane (state capital) hospital for surgery and treatment. She is currently on life support, with tests being done to ascertain whether or not she still has brain function. Those are the fact necessary for people (whoever it is that reads this blog) to pray for Anna and her family.
For us at school, it happened like this: we had all the Year 12s together for a year level assembly, like we do every fortnight, their Year Level Coordinator talked about a range of things, including uniform, things he's been hearing about their behaviour, the driving course coming up, forms that needed hanging back etc., then sent everyone home, telling them to drive safe. We get back to the staffroom, start doing our staffy things, then a after about 15 minutes, a student rushes to the back door and shouts that he's needs help, there's been an accident. A few teachers, including my husband, rushed out to see what they could do, to help, to make sure others were OK. I only heard a few words in the mix, and knew I wouldn't be of any use. I went over to the Professional Development session we were having that afternoon, and asked people if they'd heard anything. No one knew what I was talking about, it was that new, and I was getting people confused with my lack of details. I heard an ambulance and realised things were obviously serious. Part way through the PD we were told about Anna, that she was in a serious condition, having just been finally freed from her crushed vehicle, and that we all needed to pray very hard.
The week or so that followed was sombre, filled with pray, updates on her progress which didn't show much hope, and a lot of teachers crying when we were told she might not show brain function once they took her out of the induced coma. I haven't taught Anna for a few years, but I couldn't help but cry as well. My husband, who didn't see much when he went to the scene, realised just how affected he'd been when he debriefed with some other men at a small bible study. The local paper has discussed and encouraged prayer for Anna, which is refreshing and strange. Ultimately, I find myself feeling strange.
There's the initial strange of 'she was here, and now she might not be', of realising that students worry about so many other things, and have complex thoughts and dramas going on in their lives, and then suddenly they can be taken from us, in an instant, and actual instant. Lots of students are dealing with this, and there has been basically around-the-clock counselling available for both students and staff. This is unexpected, it's not new, but it's strange.
The other strange is realising that, when I'm praying for Anna, I think my heart is truly asking for a miracle. I'm not just asking for things to get better, for things to turn out well in the context of a situation where that is likely; I'm asking for something that at the moment shouldn't happen, that is very unlikely, and that actually needs supernatural intervention. Somehow the prayer become something precious, because it's not just a 'regular' prayer (not that any of them should be), but it's a prayer asking for something truly significant, and my heart is actually on board. I, as well as the other staff, know that it is unlikely, we understand that the chances of Anna surviving are slim, and she will most likely have her life support turned off, but in our hearts we are all sincerely praying for a miracle because we know our God is capable of it.
I worry that it is not so much faith as hope, that I'm just wishing and hoping and wanting Anna to be well again, because it would be so sad for her not to be. I worry that I'm not sincerely praying for God's will to be done, but praying for what we all want, which is for Anna to be healed. But even in that hope, it means my heart believes it can happen if it hopes for it so much, so I guess that means I believe in miracles.
Showing posts with label school community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school community. Show all posts
Monday, 31 March 2014
Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Let's go [team name], let's go!
When I was in high school, my mother and I had an understanding that if there was a sports day of some kind - cross country, swimming, athletics, whatever - that I could stay home. There was no point in me going to them, I wasn't going to take part, partially because of my complete lack of fitness/athletics ability, and partially because of my complete lack of team spirit. I never understood why every school (I went to a few) insisted on trying to make everyone do sports; it seemed a waste of time and it seemed as though it were catering to the select few of my peers who cared about that sort of thing.
Our school recently had our swimming carnival, this was the first year out of 5 that I wasn't there because it was my day off, but I was a little disappointed. However, it did manage to remind me of the epiphany I had in my first teaching at this school, regarding sports carnivals.
I totally get it.
It was my first year, and I was standing around in the sun at the athletics carnival, overseeing standard long jump (we run double amounts of events, a 'championship' version for the serious contenders who are looking to complete at interschool or district levels, and a 'standard' event, which is generally a simpler version of the field event designed to get students involved to get easy points) and I looked around at the oval filled with jumping and throwing and running and I realised that most of the students were actually out on the field, not just sitting in the house tents. Other schools I've been to hadn't necessarily been able to boast high attendance numbers on their sport days, most will assume that many will be 'sick' and just get on with it. There were probably at least 80% of the students in attendance on both days (we run over two days...I haven't figured out why yet, but we do), and out of those, a majority were attempting to throw a vortex or jump past at least 1 marker to get points. At first I thought perhaps we'd hit on a great formula for fitness, maybe threatening students with consequences really can make them try things, and then a member of our house gave a war cry, and I responded. Some other students replied with their own, and it was a little silly and very spirited. That's when I realised what the point of the sports days really were: family.
Our school attempts to create a sense of togetherness: all staff members are Christian, including the office staff and the groundsmen; we push for students to band together as a year level, to take care of younger grades, to respect and look up to older grades; I see students being cared for like they were a teacher's own children, like they were family. In the end, however, kids hate school, that's just how it is. It's boring, you have to do work, and the teachers are lame. At a sports carnival, it's school-related, but the things you're doing and the environment are all different. I see more students than I expect actually cheering on their friends, or even just random kids from their house; I see students trying to out war cry each other; I see students excitedly telling teachers about how they went in a race or event.
Competition + positivity + school-related event = togetherness/family feeling
This formula causes students to associate positive feelings with school, because even though it's not in the classroom doing 'work', it's still a school thing. It also helps to break down the boundaries between year levels (at least with the secondary cohort, we're a P-12 school, so there's still a bit of a divide between the Primary and Secondary cohorts). I get it now; it works.
I think my mother would pinch herself to see her stay-at-home-watching-daytime-TV-instead-of-taking-part daughter cheering so loud she nearly lost her voice, before spinning in circles with a broomstick in a teacher novelty race at the end of the last day of the athletics carnival.
Our school recently had our swimming carnival, this was the first year out of 5 that I wasn't there because it was my day off, but I was a little disappointed. However, it did manage to remind me of the epiphany I had in my first teaching at this school, regarding sports carnivals.
I'm pretty sure I've picked an appropriate, non-threatening photo of kids in a pool, don't anyone get on their high horse
I totally get it.
It was my first year, and I was standing around in the sun at the athletics carnival, overseeing standard long jump (we run double amounts of events, a 'championship' version for the serious contenders who are looking to complete at interschool or district levels, and a 'standard' event, which is generally a simpler version of the field event designed to get students involved to get easy points) and I looked around at the oval filled with jumping and throwing and running and I realised that most of the students were actually out on the field, not just sitting in the house tents. Other schools I've been to hadn't necessarily been able to boast high attendance numbers on their sport days, most will assume that many will be 'sick' and just get on with it. There were probably at least 80% of the students in attendance on both days (we run over two days...I haven't figured out why yet, but we do), and out of those, a majority were attempting to throw a vortex or jump past at least 1 marker to get points. At first I thought perhaps we'd hit on a great formula for fitness, maybe threatening students with consequences really can make them try things, and then a member of our house gave a war cry, and I responded. Some other students replied with their own, and it was a little silly and very spirited. That's when I realised what the point of the sports days really were: family.
Our school attempts to create a sense of togetherness: all staff members are Christian, including the office staff and the groundsmen; we push for students to band together as a year level, to take care of younger grades, to respect and look up to older grades; I see students being cared for like they were a teacher's own children, like they were family. In the end, however, kids hate school, that's just how it is. It's boring, you have to do work, and the teachers are lame. At a sports carnival, it's school-related, but the things you're doing and the environment are all different. I see more students than I expect actually cheering on their friends, or even just random kids from their house; I see students trying to out war cry each other; I see students excitedly telling teachers about how they went in a race or event.
Competition + positivity + school-related event = togetherness/family feeling
This formula causes students to associate positive feelings with school, because even though it's not in the classroom doing 'work', it's still a school thing. It also helps to break down the boundaries between year levels (at least with the secondary cohort, we're a P-12 school, so there's still a bit of a divide between the Primary and Secondary cohorts). I get it now; it works.
I think my mother would pinch herself to see her stay-at-home-watching-daytime-TV-instead-of-taking-part daughter cheering so loud she nearly lost her voice, before spinning in circles with a broomstick in a teacher novelty race at the end of the last day of the athletics carnival.
Woah, it's actually a picture of me running. This is basically a rare artefact. I'm certainly not going to show you the one of me from about 30 seconds earlier where I fell down from too much spinning.
Ok fine, here it is
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