Remembrance

Today was our school Remembrance Day assembly. It's my yearly job. Well, one of them. Remembrance Day is a really important day to me. I've had some wonderful opportunities in my life to learn about and from our Canadian veterans, and as the number veterans living begins to slowly dwindle, I think it's so important to make sure that future generations know, understand, and appreciate the sacrifice and difference that was made years ago.

I always try to keep our school ceremony brief but meaningful. I use a few videos including Terry Kelly's Pittance of Time, Astronaut Rob Thirsk's Remembrance Message, and one last video focused on the Highway of Heroes. This year was no different, and I used all of these. The one that seemed to hit home the most was the Highway of Heroes video. It really got to some people, and even a few students teared up. It was immensely touching to see the heartfelt emotion come from students, but also the way that others around them came together to support them. In one such case, a boy in my class began to cry. As soon as others noticed, the students sitting on either side of hime (who were not even in his group of friends) scooched over and put their arms around his shoulder. It was a moving scene to witness and I was overwhelmingly proud of my kiddos in that instant.

In an effort to make our assembly a little different this year, I put together a couple of displays (thank-you Pinterest for the inspiration) which turned out pretty well. The first was a display titled "Working Together for a Better World" which featured a large image of the world (drawn and painted by two of my amazingly artistic Grade 8 students) surrounded by hand cut-outs. I asked the other teachers in my school to have every student trace and cut out a hand and then send them down to me. I then took the cut outs and used them to surround the world, and voila! I have to say, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

 The second display was essentially one large "Parking Lot" activity. I posted some chart paper in the lobby of the school with a message attached asking "When you close your eyes and think of peace, what do you see?" I left a variety of Post-It notes on the table in front of the display (I went on a Post-It buying rampage over the summer, so I've got quite a collection of styles and colours) and asked the staff of my school to send their students down a few at a time over the last few days to leave their answer. Again, pretty happy with the result!

 When all is said and done, our assembly was pretty successful and I think the key ideas made it through to at least a few students. Everyone was respectful, and I'm hoping that the more interactive displays and presentations made an impact.