Llama Learning

When I started working at Park View last fall, I needed a school t-shirt because the staff wears them on Mondays. There was a pile of old designs to choose from. I picked out a couple and my teammate gave me some that she said didn’t fit her anymore. One was an aqua shirt with a llama that read, “fast llama club.” I had no idea what that meant. I thought the school mascot was a cub.

I saw a book on my classroom shelf about llama training and realized that it must be some sort of classroom management thing. I took the book home with me, but it took me a long time to get through it with all the other million things I have had to learn this year. There is an analogy that teachers are like llamas in the grass and students are like hunting, stalking tigers, so do you want to be a fast llama, or a slow one? The book speaks more deeply about relationships with students and implementing systems to build trust and success.

Last week when I was gone, one of my students got suspended. She was mouthy with another teacher. It might have been just one of “those last straw” moments because this kid is HARD. Well, anyway she returned today and I heard her say, “Ms. Taylor is mad at me, I bet. She didn’t even say hi to me.” So I went over and gave her a hug, which she was not expecting and said something super gushy and over the top to welcome her into the room. She laughed and so did the rest of the class. And it was the first time that I realized that she really did care what I thought about her. It honestly felt like winning a gold medal at some impossible event

After the kids left at the end of the day, I started painting a mural on a retaining wall in the playground. I have looked at the bare cement all year and imagined what could go up there that would make the cracked, rusted wall look better. I originally thought about bear cubs, but when I put the first stroke on the wall, I realized that llamas would be a great beginning.

I worked on the wall for three hours and only got one llama done. But it’s fine because tomorrow is another day. On the drive home, the sun was setting and the mountains were breathtaking. I realized how calm I felt, like wide open to all the beauty. Painting on a big, old concrete canvas is THE thing that I could do every day for free. It feeds my soul. I don’t know if I will finish the wall before the end of the year, but I hope to leave a vista of color and imagination for all the students to come.