Back to back songs hit this morning with lyrics that reminded me of her.
Being neurologically atypical, I have related more to the abstract, metaphors and song lyrics than plain speak, much like my son.
In the late nineties, I jumped on the Madonna fan train secretly. I loved “Like a Prayer.” Certain songs, new and old, change meaning after you have lost a child.
No matter how you move forward, you cannot fake a smile when you do not feel it. You cannot ignore the lyrics and quickly change the radio station when those lyrics grab you because they are a reminder of your child.
I hear your voice.
Its like an angel singing.
I have no choice.
I hear your voice.
Madonna, “like a Prayer”
Corrie’s voice sounded like an angel with just a little firecracker of devil. She would say, “Mommy, I am so hungry” with the purpose of working up to chocolate, Jello, or pudding with the hope I would not put anything between those choices and her.
I hear her voice as I drive to school. Sometimes I turn the music down very low. I like it quiet, so if I can hear her, there is no other noise to poison that sweet sound.
Immediately after “Like a Prayer,” “Free Fallin’” came on. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is my all-time favorite band, and this song digs down deep. When Petty sings, “I wanna write her name in the sky,” I think of Corrie. I want to write Corrie’s name everywhere, so she is never forgotten. I want to etch it in cursive and in bubble letters.
I am not always on the verge of tears when something reminds me of her. Because I want to talk about her. I crave to make her memory matter as time changes and continues. Because she stole the spotlight in my heart. Because she proved a unicorn does exist in heaven.
Corrie wanted to return to the classroom during E Learning. She wanted to hear Mrs. Gary’s voice. Corrie felt like her best show off shelf there, and often hid the mischievous side of her at home. Corrie cracked me up laughing when she would say to Hayes, her brother:
Hayes, you need to read your books like me
Corrie
I have worked on my classroom some last week and this week. Teachers do not return until Monday. But it has been so therapeutic for me to work on my seventh grade classroom as I moved for the fifth year in a row. Corrie always loved decorating my classroom. The classroom is a testament to the work of last year’s students and created in memory of Corrie.
Last December, I thought: Let’s start teaching with LEGOs in English and SS. It goes with my STEAM and PBL style of teaching.
When people ask me how I use LEGO in English and Social Studies, I think it’s pretty straight forward. You’ve read a certain chapter. You want the student comprehend a certain part of the text. Craft your question specifically to the standard and what you want your student to write in the end. The student builds a scene or character representation based on the question and reading. Students then explain their piece using text evidence verbally. After discussion, they write their response.
The result:
Better writing.
I do this with vocabulary, and events in history.
Corrie got into my LEGOs at school, and without instructions, built a house. She described why it was important. She was on her way.
My classroom is not just decorated.
It is a testament to the work last year’s students did, the support I received from my school and parents, and to my daughter. The classroom is created for my students, and put together in memory of Corrie Bridges.
What I am trying to do now, with wonderful help, is to make sure I create enough individualized bags per students. With COVID, students need to be able to build at their desk with an assigned set. My amazing volunteer help has assisted in bagging all the LEGOs I currently have. I still need LEGOs for the students, and with COVID, any donated ones must be unopened.
I am unaccustomed to asking for help as I have been a do it yourself, and people have asked and offered.
Corrie's Season 