Love Rescue me

The news of the past week has been so bleak. 100,000 lives lost to COVID-19, the brutal murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, just 2 weeks after the killing of Ahmaud Marquez Arbery. Moral Monday CT/Balck Lives Matter met last night online with people from all around the world. We said their names; we spoke ones not heard on the news as. There are far too many. It helped to be in community with others.

Yesterday I was lost, but friends and community found me, lifted me, and we listened deeply to our collective fear and pain.
Today I shall light my candle, say my prayers, and reflect on one of those lives of more significant works.
Today, I shall remember the life of Mother Teresa.
Her words fill me this day,
Today Mother Teresa's words fortify me.

"Peace begins with a smile.
There are no great things, only small things with great love."

"Happy are those.
Spread love everywhere you go.
Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

If you judge people,
You have no time to love them."

If you can't feed a hundred people,
Then feed just one."

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak,
But their echoes are truly endless."

"Let us always meet each other with smile,
For the smile is the beginning of love."

"Be faithful in small things because,
It is in them that your strength lies."

"Yesterday is gone.
Tomorrow has not yet come.
We have only today. Let us begin."
"I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts,
Then there is no hurt,
But only more love."

The struggle for justice is real, it is a struggle of many coming together. I am part of this struggle for the right to breathe, live, and strive for all people.

I am no Dr. King.
I am no world leader,
I am really quite small in ways of the world.

I am, however,
My Sister's keeper,
My Brother's Keeper,
And they are my keepers,

I am one seed of hope, among many,
A twig reaching for the light,
Together we are the coming forest of justice for all.

In the meantime,
I shall not hate,
I shall lead with love,
See me here,
In my silliness,
At my best.

I am a teacher, and
My superpower is not the letters after my name,
It is the love that fills my heart
My goal today is to remember,
I am not alone,
I am part of a community of loving usurpers,
Come to tear down hate,
I share lean on higher lives,
Today I shall call upon,
Mother Teresa's life and words.

I shall remember those words "there are no great things, Only small things with great love."
I am a small:
Man,
Teacher,
My works are small,
But, my works are filled with great love.

Love Wins,
Dr. Jesse P. Turner

Moral Monday CT Education Ambassador

The only song that I listen to over and over again on my walk this morning is "Love Rescued Me"
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjiRnY6xlDE <

Central To You: No More Summer Reading loss

In this COVID-19 Spring rush to remote leaning, we will spend decades trying to understand how much learning time did children actually lose.

My thinking is with summer fast approaching, we need to do all we can to avoid any summer reading loss. Consider spending 30-minutes with Nelba Marquez-Green, (The Ana Grace Project), and Dr. Jesse P. Turner the Central Connecticut State literacy Center discussing how to avoid summer reading loss.

Hoping you join Nelba and I as we support Parents, Step-Parents, Foster Parents,  and Grandparents prevent summer reading loss.

May 26, 9:PM EST

A quick read about summer reading loss:
Dr. JAMES S. KIM is an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and THOMAS G. WHITE is a senior research scientist at the University of Virginia discusses the negative impact that summer reading loss has on children of color, and possible solutions to summer reading loss in the following article.

Solving the Problem of Summer Reading Loss 

> https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/jameskim/files/prof_pub-pdk-white-2011-summer_loss.pdf

"Richard Allington and his colleagues (2010) tried this. They recently reported the results of an experimental study in which low-income children got books to read in three successive summers. The 1,330 participants were pre- dominantly black or Hispanic children who be- gan the study in the 1st and 2nd grades at 17 high-poverty elementary schools in Florida. Children were randomly assigned to a treatment group that received 12 books in each of three summers or to a control group that re- received no books. The children chose the books themselves. Each spring, they were brought to a book fair where they picked from a large selection of trade books. The results of this in- the intervention showed a small but statistically significant improvement in the children’s reading skills, particularly among children at the low- est socioeconomic level."

This summer may be the most important in the literacy development of our children in generations. Simple truth summer reading matters, and it should be a family affair.
Please consider joining us for this free Facebook Live Event on the Ana Grace Project Page.
> https://www.facebook.com/anagraceproject2015/

If you are wondering what the Walking Man listened to on his morning walk today its Barry Lane's "more Than A Number" 

Ask me now teacher?

Imagine one Black Teacher?
She wrote it on the chalkboard:

“Literature is indispensable to the world. The world changes according to the way people see it, and if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way a person looks at reality, then you can change it.” ~ James Baldwin

I knew it was important; everything she wrote on her chalkboard was. Why is Literature indispensable young Jess? I was far too young to fathom the why at 17. Ask me now, TEACHER? Ask me now at 64, ask me now in the middle of this pandemic, ask me now that I live long enough to bury my grandparents, parents, sisters, students, and dear friends.

Mrs. Stanfield Honor English Grade 12

Sometimes:                                                                                                                                            The hate,
The evil,
The injustice,
Crushes me.

Sometimes the lack of:
Humanity,
Compassion,
Empathy,
Love,
Crushes me.

Sometimes even my:
Prayers are not enough,
A candle burning in the dark is not enough,
Falling on my knees is not enough,
Not enough,
Crushes me.

Sometimes hope eludes:
My prayers,
My hopes,
My prayers,
Eluding hope,
Crushes me.

In my lost hours,
I plead oh Lord intervene,
Do here,
Do it now,
Intervene now,
Crushes me.

When all is darkest:
I search scriptures,
I remember her lessons,
I hear her despair, not young Jess,
Mrs. Stanfield,
Did I not fortify you,
Look on your shelves,
I gave you:
Whitman,
Dickerson,
Thoreau,
Poe,
Frost,
Angelou,
Ginsberg,
Brooks,
Giovanni,
Martí,
Burgos.

With her lessons, I cannot be:

Lost,
Hopeless,
Not enough,
For she gave me heroes.
I am uncrushable.

God saves:
Scripture holds me steady,
I am never alone,
Candles and prayers are my armor,
I am uncrushable.

Literature is my Shepard:
In the valley of death,
When I am the one out of the 100 lost,
My better prayers are on my shelves,
In my treasures of found,
Poems,
Books and,
Stories,
I am uncrushable.

Uncrushable because:
My Faith,
My Prayers,
My Candles, and
Her lessons,
Imagine if she was your teacher,
Imagine your heroes,
Imagine her lessons, and know:
I am never alone.

Imagine if she was your teacher?

If you are wondering what this Walking Man listened to on his walk this morning? Its Crosby, Stills, and Nash > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vnYKRacKQc <