What I Took Away From Caliche

This is sort of a reflective posting regarding our Rural Experience at Caliche. If you have been following my blog, you know what Caliche is and what we were doing there. Here are some of the things that I learned:

• Little rural schools are really neat. The kids are all so excited to see you, it's hard not to get caught up in the enthusiasm. Even if you have only had three hours of sleep, you can still get pretty excited about being there.
  
  
• Kids are noisy on the school bus in the morning, but kids are really noisy in the school bus in the afternoon. I think that in the morning, some of them are not quite awake yet, but in the afternoon, they are all excited to get home and every one of them is yelling at the top of their lungs. Not a pretty situation.
  
  
  
• Boys in Rural schools punch and slap each other just as often as boys in city schools. That must be part of the deal with them.
  
  
  
• Alot of things are "gay." I must have heard that term about 7-8 times during the week, at least. Each time, if I was in a position to do so, I said the same thing, "You know, some of your best friends may be gay." That usually started a little discussion about the use of the term. Kids usually agreed to try to say something else. The consensus appeared to be that there wasn't anything wrong with being gay, just that it is an easy word to throw around as an insult.
  
  
  
• High School sports are pretty cool. We went to a Varsity Girls' Volleyball game and it was alot of fun. Caliche got beaten pretty badly, but it was alot of fun to watch. Cheap, too. I can't wait until I have my own school teams to support.
  
  
  
• If you are planning an extended field experience away from home, try not to micro-schedule each and every minute of each and every day, it gets to be really exhausting having to be places all the time.
  
  
  
• You can do Accounting out of doors and it almost makes it fun.
  
  
  
• I am concerned about young girls. I saw and heard about some pretty ugly behavior aimed at girls in high school. I am now very interested in making sure that my classroom values and respects girls. Boys grinding themselves against girls while slapping their butts WILL NOT be tolerated.
  
  
  
• Elementary kids are alot of fun. 4th and 5th graders are endlessly fascinated with just about anything you tell them and are grateful that you bothered to work with them at all. I think that by the 7th and 8th grades, there is some cynicism built up, but the younger kids are pretty neat.
  
  
  
• Rural communities are pretty cozy places. Everyone seems to know everyone else and anything said or done anywhere in town is instantly known by all. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending upon what you have done.
  
  
  
• Smile alot.
  
  
  
• Homegrown is better. Beef tastes a heck of alot better when it is grown on the back 40 and tomatoes are wonderful right off the vine.
  
  
  
• Sometimes, you have to go get what you want, instead of waiting for things to come up to you.
  
  
  
• There are times when it is nice to just sit in the sun.
  
  
  
• If you have a pond and stock it with fish, a nearby Pelican habilitation project will likely eat all of the fish in your pond.
  
  
  
• Hermit crabs are pretty neat little housepets and might be appropriate for a 4 year old daughter.
  
  
  
• Always make sure that you have control of your own transportation, whenever possible, it will make your life alot easier.
  
  
  
• Little communities are pretty tightly knit. There were a number of memorials at Caliche to students, teachers and boosters that had died in accidents or of diseases. Very sad.
  
  
  
• I think that I could teach in a rural school, if given a chance.