By: Emma Wood
What is school? Most will say it is the various textbooks, and lesson plans, and classrooms that are built with education in mind with so many rules and regulations you might want to pull your hair out. However, every single person within the four walls of every single classroom (some may know it as a prison) has a story beyond what we might initially know. Every person has something that is worthy of being spotlighted. Let’s explore what happens beyond the classroom.
BE THE MOON:
{Teacher Shawn Lawrence}
Teachers a lot of times seem like something beyond human beings. We believe they sleep and eat at school, that they live at the school. In reality, when the final bell rings, life continues beyond the classroom… even for teachers. For Southeast English Teacher Shawn Lawrence, life moves to a steady rhythm beyond the classroom: the rhythm of music. “I was about forty-four,” he said, recalling a turning point in his life. “I’d been playing drums my whole life, piano too, but one day, I realized I wasn’t just someone who played the drums. I was a musician. What you do is just what you do; your identity is who you are.” That realization shifted more than his self image, it had also shaped his teaching style. He wants to be a light for his students, to reflect his ideas like the moon does the sun. “I try to give students the confidence to search for their identities,” Lawrence had said. “The parts of themselves they might not have realized yet.” If he could teach music, he imagines something in a more free-formed and communal setting. “Not a class exactly,” he had mused, rubbing his chin. “More like a drum circle. Homemade instruments that I’d bring in, and everyone just drumming together.” As Lawrence approaches retirement, at the end of this coming year, he plans to pour more of himself into music through his church. He already plays drums there every Sunday. “There might be even more room for me to grow there, to lead in worship more often,” he said.
Lawrence is super into movies as well as music, and when asked if his life were a movie, what title it would have, he didn’t hesitate for very long, “Be the Moon.” He said. “Because I want to reflect God’s glory. The moon isn’t a source of light, it reflects the light that’s shown on it by the sun.” His theme song? “Agnus Dei” by Third Day, a perfect echo of faith and rejection to pull his entire experience beyond the classroom together.
ROLLERCOASTER:
{Student Kyle Sippel}
Students often are open books. Their pages are all over social media for anybody to see and read, but some stories remain closer to the chest. Kyle Sippel’s is one of quiet focus, steady patience, intelligence, and an unexpected passion not many know about: Bowling. “I really enjoy woodworking, bowling, and basketball,” he said, thinking, “But if I had to pick one? Bowling.” For Sippel, bowling is more than a pastime, it’s a place for silence and self-reflection outside of the rollercoaster of his life. “That alone time is needed for everybody,” he said. “It gives you moments to relax, to think things through, to regroup yourself.” The lanes have taught him life’s rhythm, “Sometimes you have a really good day, next time, you might do horrible,” he said. “Just because you have one bad day doesn’t mean you’re doing bad overall.” This idea stretches far beyond the alley and into the classroom. It has taught him that academically, “Not everybody moves at the same speed,” he said. “It doesn’t mean they’re less intelligent. Some people just need more time.” He does admit, however, that he is not in love with school itself, and he wishes teachers understood this about him and other students in general. “I’m an academic student, but I don’t really like school as it is,” Sippel said honestly. “I’d rather do something meaningful instead of busy work, something lasting, something that matters.” He claims bowling helps him academically by allowing him to take a step back, to have a brain break and take a step away from school and the classroom. Sippel loves his video games, and if his life were one? Sippel grinned before landing on an answer that says it all: Rollercoaster. A theme song? “Love Rollercoaster” by the Ohio Players.
The Pirate Post 