The word from my heart pocket is Onomatopoeia.
Tom Woodward is one of those teachers who thinks learning should be fun. He mentions that when his students are having fun with learning he doesn't have to be a master classroom manager. My incredible friend, Kay Williams, is also one of these teachers. She has made music class "cool" because of her enthusiasm and her creativity and her love for learning. She has told me so many times how much she learns about teaching from the children. We have all experienced this at least once. When we are having fun or are interested in what is happening, we get involved and we learn.
When I was in 8th grade I was in a spelling bee. Sister Mary Vincent, the principal of my school, personally worked with me because I was the school's representative at the state competition. When the word onomatopoeia came up in our practice, I spelled it quickly and easily. I had learned it in second grade from Sister Mary Michaelyn. I loved Sister Mary Michaelyn. She was very young (in those days girls often went into the convent from 8th or 9th grade). She had been a nun for only a few years. She joined the School Sisters of Notre Dame and she made learning F.U.N. She taught 1st and 2nd grade, 30 students in each class ... all in the same room. She would give 1st graders something to do and teach 2nd graders. She would give the 2nd graders an assignment and teach the 1st graders. It wasn't ideal for anyone, 60 kids in one room. But my memory was that her gift was showing us that learning could be interesting and even exciting. Eventually, she combined both grades in many subjects. She made them pertinent to our lives. She wasn't afraid to learn along with us.
Sister Mary Vincent found it amazing that I had learned to spell onomatopoeia in second grade. She did a little sleuthing and found that almost all of us in that class knew how to spell onomatopoeia and other words that were hard to spell like bougainvillea and gubernatorial. She questioned Sister Mary Michaelyn and I don't know what was said but our 8th grade class, taught by Sister Mary Vincent, became more interesting from that day forward.
Onomatopoeia is a word "that imitates or suggests the source of the sound that it describes." Words like Boom! and Crash! and Tick Tock and Zoom. Animals and machines give us lots of examples of onomatopoeia. Humans are grand specimens with our mis-takes and dis-ease and en-joyment and our living out loud!
I think onomatopoeia is a metaphor for living dynamically.
When we look at how we live - that is, how we talk, what words we use, rolling our eyes, phony laughter - we can not only see where we are going, but we can hear it, too. On the surface, is our voice and the sounds our body makes with grunting and moaning and sighing and burps. Our thoughts make noises that only we can hear - "I can DO this!", "I'm better at that than he is", "I'm afraid to try".
How we think, what we believe, shows. Our bodies act out our thoughts. Our choices/decisions act out our beliefs at that moment. We are transparent to others and it is because of our innate gift for self-expression - our onomatopoeia. We speak loud and clear when we don't show up for an appointment. We are heard when we cooperate. We shout when we volunteer. We say more about ourselves than others when we gossip.
Whether we want to think it or not, our lives are open books to those around us. Our self-expression will find its way to air somehow, sometime. It's good to use our onomatopoeia! There are about a bajillion ways from which to choose. The more we become Onomatopeoians, the more honest we are with ourselves and others. We cause movement. We get somewhere. People begin talking to each other again, about their challenges and solutions and we get to know each other up front because we see where we differ ... and how we are oh so much the same.
Sister Mary Michaelyn eventually left the sisterhood, I heard. Sister Mary Vincent remained a friend to me throughout her lifetime. She was an Onomatopoeian who made a big difference in many lives, including mine. I went to the spelling bee and made it to the final round. I fell on the word "disciple', which I thought was a bit ironic. Sister Mary Vincent was in the audience and was the first to stand up and applaud when they called my name as runner-up. I heard her loud and clear.
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