For ACP students the url for the movie Eye in the Sky is

www.amazon.com/Eye-Sky-Helen-Mirren/dp/B01GPQPBYM/ref=sr_1_1?s=instant-video&ie=UTF8&qid=1511984302&sr=1-1&keywords=eye+in+the+sky

Go to link

 Every so often a teacher stumbles across something new to add to the curriculum that makes them ask, “Why haven’t I been doing this all along?”

That has been the experience I have had over the last four months with my English 12 classes and the Out of Eden Walk program [An initiative of Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education]. Sixty-eight high school seniors and I learned to slow down, walk and really take notice of things in a way that you can only do on foot.

Participating in the Out of Eden Learn walking party and curriculum on migration we walked, noticed, reflected, wrote and learned.

We participated with students in Indonesia, Canada, Texas, and Massachusetts. The experience was personal and different for every student, yet all agree that it gave them a profoundly different worldview.

One of my own slow walks took place along the Upper Peninsula of Michigan’s Lake Superior coast. I marveled at the incredible beauty of the hundreds of smoothed stones along the beach. Before I knew it I was collecting the stones that attracted me the most. Each had it’s own beauty to marvel at, each sparkled or shined in its own special way. They reminded me of my students. Each senior that I have this year is special, beautiful, unique, in their own way. When my arms were too full to carry any more stones, I found a bag. When my bag was full, I found a larger bag. By the time I finished my walk, I could hardly carry the bag from the weight of all the stones I had collected.

I took the rocks home and painted the phrase, “Take a slow walk” on each one. I held onto the rocks until today, which happens to be my birthday. Instead of getting birthday presents, I gave each senior a present to remind them not to lose what they have gain by our Out of Eden Walk experience.

Yes, I know that I just keep adding more and more good work from these senior, but here is yet another. This particular piece of art under one of the bridges along the Indy Canal stimulated a lot of contemplation and discussion both during the field trip and after. I have even suggested that one of the students contact the artist and share her reflections. Here is a second poem that was written by another talented senior at WHS.

I see the pleasant light ahead of me, I walk in blind, cold, and scared.

I brought my memories and left the pain.

 

Across the grass so green, the greenest grass I’ve ever seen,

I jumped and skipped and bounce on air, it was like there was nothing there.

A sky of blue, not a cloud in sight, perpetual day and no dark nights

Every flower in full bloom, undefined colors of every hue.

 

The streams and rivers crystal clear, no rubbish or decay to be seen.

The sea is calm and turquoise blue, I long to test it, wouldn’t you?

The warmest rays cover me from my head to my feet.

 

A city built of alabaster walls, where translucent light eliminates the halls.

Amazing sights for me to see, I just wander in, there’s no entrance fee.

The celestial sun shines forever, it’s a perfect temperature all the time.

This ethereal plain is a pure delight, it’s my new home, my God given right.

 

There is nothing here to cause me fear, the Lord protects me as a whole.

An infinity of perfect peace, from the toils of earth I am now released.

I have landed on a higher realm, in perfect harmony to forever dwell.

So believe when I tell you, my dear friends, you cannot die, life never ends.

As a teacher I have seen a variety of outstanding responses from our Out of Eden Walk slow walk field trip to the Indy Canal. One of the young men in our senior class is a very sensitive and often quiet person who feels very strongly about the losses of members of his family who have served in the military. He has spoken to me often of these losses. I noticed that he spent much longer at each of the war memorials along the canal than most of his class. Here is his written reflection.  

The Fallen Heroes

            When taking a stroll on the way back to the bus I saw a memorial for every soldier killed in any major war that was from Indiana. I think the one that hit me the most was the names of the fallen whose lives were lost in Afghanistan. December 6 of last year I lost my cousin in Afghanistan during a bombing of his air base. This war has a very deep connection with me because not only did my cousin die in that’s war but one of my other cousins was stationed in Afghanistan 10 miles out of the city of Kabul and no more than 3 miles away from an active terrorist cell. My family has served in many wars fought by America. I lost two great-grandparents in WWII. One was killed by the Japanese and the other was killed by the Germans.

I don’t know the names of the men who all were on that piece of glass but I feel a connection through my family and I have deep respect and sorrow for the families of the fallen. If you want to see a real hero just take a walk and find war memorials. The men and women whose name is on that memorial fought and died to protect everything that they saw as sacred and holy. Real heroes don’t wear their name on the back of a jersey, but they wear their country’s flag on the side of their sleeve. Heroes are not only those who just served but also those who laid down their life for their country and all those who inhabit it.

I took to heart these names because if you were to look at how society has progressed since they sacrificed their own life so that we could hold the freedom we have in the United States. I too feel the necessity to stand to the call and join my brothers and sisters in arms and defend, protect, and uphold the constitution of the United States against all threats. I will stand even when it seems that no one else will with me. I have deep roots in fighting for this country’s freedom and I hope to fulfill what my family has done before me and what I hope my family will do after me. I appreciate and pray for the fallen that their souls may be at peace. I believe that above all else freedom must be held onto. I will take up my country’s flag and stand alongside my brothers and sisters in arms and make sure that’s the sacrifices of the fallen not go in vain.